Cape Coral residents overjoyed to have power restored

Fifteen days without power is a lot to take. especially when you throw in the 90-degree temperatures that we often have this time of year.

People were overjoyed when the power finally kicked back on in one Cape Coral neighborhood Thursday morning.

Among them is Joshnon Tran, who recently moved to Cape Coral from Portland, Oregon. He said he learned a big lesson during the hurricane; always have a generator before the storm hits.

For many, a generator was their lifeline to keep their food from going bad and to have some lights turned on. After waiting for so long, Tran said he won’t ever go into another storm unprepared.

Living on a generator after Hurricane Ian became the new normal for many in the southwest part of Cape Coral, including Tran.

That is until Thursday morning at around 9:30 when he finally got his power back after living almost 15 days without it.

“I am 67 years old the first time I’ve been in this storm, so we just expect, you know, about a week or 10 days, but nothing we can do, you know,” said Tran.

Tran moved to the Cape three months ago. He said he prepared for Ian as best he could but never knew how different his lifestyle would be in the days following the storm.

“Just a refrigerator and some light, and you know that’s all. I have learned a little bit more experience about storms now,” Tran said.

While the welcome to Florida hasn’t been what he expected, he is grateful for many things, like his power, but the biggest is his safety.

“Mother nature normal so we can live, you know. If not hurricane, you go over there maybe earthquake, maybe you know some kind of different disaster,” said Tran.

Now that he has his power back on, Tran said he is so excited to be able to cook again and wants to thank the lineman who have been working so hard to restore people’s power.