NAPLES, Fla. — As many continue to recover after Hurricane Ian some are being left out in the dark.
Some have been granted trailers, courtesy of FEMA, like the Par 4 Mobile Home Park. But not all of those trailers have been quite ready for their new owners.
At the Par 4 Mobile Home Park, property manager James Gaughan does his daily ride. But for about two weeks something has been missed.
“They need a safe and secure place to stay which we can provide if I can get electricity to them,” says Gaughan.
No electricity in these trailers that FEMA provided.
“We’ve had these up well over for two weeks. FPL knows about it and we just can’t get FPL to get off their hands and come down and hook these trailers up.”
Like Gaughan has pointed out, crews have already installed a power pole and transformer here. He says it’s just a matter of installing the meter and switching on the power.
“And all four units are the same.”
All the same, waiting to be connected. Gaughan says he’s even tried reaching out to FPL to see what’s the hold up.
“The email sent back from FPL stated that first they need to do an inspection and then there’s a 30-day waiting period for trailers to be hooked up,” said Gaughan. “And that’s horse pucky.”
We also reached out to FPL and they agreed.
“It won’t take 30 days for FPL to connect service once an inspection has been completed,” said Shawn Johnson, with Florida Power and Light. “That’s an inaccurate number. We’ve seen, on average at most, it takes up to five days once an inspection has been complete.”
Meaning power to the trailers could just be a matter of a few days. Keeping Gaughan remaining hopeful, for now.
“If it puts a little more pressure on FPL, that’s the only reason why I’m doing it because I want everybody to know I need FPL to step up and do their job.”
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