LCEC preparing for Nicole

Southwest Florida locals are getting better equipped this time around in case the power goes out.

LCEC said they are prepared for whatever Nicole brings, saying if the power does go out, restoration time won’t be as long.

Hurricane Ian left thousands without power, and for some, it lasted weeks. And with Nicole headed toward the east coast, Southwest Florida is bracing for whatever effects it may feel.

With its Hurricane Ian plan still activated Karen Ryan with LCEC said the company is preparing for whatever comes our way this week.

“Anytime a storm like this heads our way, we jump into action…we’re talking to all of our vendors to make sure that we have materials, supplies, resources, which, fortunately, we have a lot of crews still here working on hurricane Ian restoration. So if there’s an impact from this storm, they will just switch modes and go into emergency restoration mode,” Ryan said.

That’s good news to people like Mike and Barb Stephenson; they lost power for 11 days after Ian and endured Hurricane Charley before that.

“We were here for Charlie for seven, eight days,” Mike said. “So we knew what would be like, we knew it was, it was going to be no power. And where we are, if we don’t have power, we have no water.”

While there’s no way to predict which people, if any, will lose power, Ryan said customers can rest easier this time around.

“I can say that the LCC system is in great shape, much of it is brand new. And if there are outages that occur, we will respond as quickly and safely as possible. And to make sure that customers are not without power for a lengthy period of time if we can help it,” Ryan said.

If you do lose power and have to resort to a generator, LCEC stresses the importance of following instructions and using it safely.

Click here to view the LCEC outage map.