Residents wait for power as crews toil in tough conditions
Carrie Hinkson peeked over the branches of a fallen tree as linesman Michael Benefield from Pike Electric pulled wires on a pole near her South Daytona home Sunday and she was glad.
Hinkson lost power to her Anne Circle home when winds from Tropical Storm Ian arrived in the area Wednesday.
"I have been without power since Wednesday about 4 o'clock," Hinkson said. "It was when the first winds started we went out of power."
MVolusia goes dark under Ian: Power outages in Volusia County spread as Ian moves closer
More: Ian's impacts result in record-breaking flooding of St. Johns River in Volusia
Outside in the daytime, flashlight at night
Hinkson said she and her family have handled things well. They spend time outside though her son keeps saying he needs a hot shower.
"We've managed pretty good," Hinkson said. "We're outside during the daytime, you know, flashlight at night."
But on Sunday, Hinkson said it felt good to see Benefield working on the power lines near her home.
"But it makes me happy to see him up there working to get us power," she said.
Working to restore power to homes
Power crews were also out in Daytona Beach neighborhoods repairing downed electric lines and working on transformers to restore electricity to homes and businesses.
Florida Power & Light estimated that it will restore power to 95% of Flagler and Volusia county households by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, according to its outage map, which was updated at 2 p.m. Sunday.
FPL reported 48,140 customers without power in Volusia County. The company serves a total of 191,950 there.
In Flagler County, 3,470 customers were without power. The company serves 66,910 there, according to the map.
Electric crews from Florida Power and Light and out-of-state companies used to gather at the Daytona International Speedway but since that venue was flooded by Tropical Storm Ian, the power crews staged at the Flagler Executive Airport.
Airport Director Roy Seiger said that the airport has sleeping quarters for more than 1,000 people, shower, dining and laundry facilities.
On Sunday morning trucks with power crews rolled out of the airport spreading out to communities in Volusia and Flagler counties to bring electricity to homes of anxious homeowners like Julie Maltagliati at her Mike Street home in South Daytona.
Just before lunch on Sunday, Maltagliati was lighting a gas stove on her porch to make some German tea.
"That's a story," Maltagliati said laughing when asked how long she has been without electricity. "Wednesday about 6 p.m. a transformer blew and we called FPL but nobody came. We have been in the dark since."
Maltagliati said she is upset and frustrated because her neighbors have power and in like past hurricanes, she always seem "to be the last to get power," she said.
Other neighbors like Hinkson and Rick Finzer, said they have been inconvenienced by the lack of power but they also understand that power crews have to work safely when working with downed power lines.
Finzer said he has a generator but has been going to his mother-in-law's for showers and meals.
"Now that I have the generator, at least I have the TV and lights at night," Finzer said, sitting outside his South Daytona home on Sunday morning.
Finzer said he has been weathering hurricanes since Hurricane Donna in 1960.
"I am not a newbie to this, I understand it, that crews have to take their time putting in new poles and transformers," Finzer said.
Pike Electric, foreman Jordan Philbeck, who arrived with his crew from West Palm Beach to repair power lines in the South Daytona neighborhood said he is grateful for the positive attitude the residents have shown them.
He said they are working hard to bring electricity to 30 homes in the Ann Circle neighborhood by the end of the day Sunday.
Philbeck said he and his crew has been working since Saturday afternoon.
"A lot of the ground is still saturated so it's hard to access poles due to the ground being too wet," Philbeck said. "And we have had to work with trees that are down, replacing broken poles and putting in new transformers."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Some neighborhoods in Volusia County still without power
