Video shows a cavalry of linemen en route to restore power in Florida’s Cape Coral as millions have already seen power restored in the days following Hurricane Ian.
Video shows a long trail of linemen reportedly moving into Cape Coral, which is in Lee County — one of the counties that saw the brunt of destruction caused by the massive Category 4 storm:
Last Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis identified Charlotte County and Lee County as essentially “off the grid,” likely needing the rebuilding of infrastructure to reconnect power altogether.
“Sarasota has a quarter of a million without power. Hillsborough 222,000. Pinellas 150,000. Manatee 129,000. The Charlotte and Lee reconnects are really going to likely have to be rebuilding of that infrastructure,” he said at the time.
“But that’s going to be more than just connecting a power line back to back to a pole,” he added. “The other counties likely are not going to require the extent of the structural rebuild, but of course that’s going to be assessed as the day goes on.”
As of Sunday, linemen had restored power for roughly 2 million customers in the Sunshine State. According to Reuters’ Friday report, at one point, over 3.5 million people were without power in the aftermath of the storm. Prior to the hurricane’s landfall, DeSantis made it clear that tens of thousands of linemen were ready to respond:
According to most recent data, just under 300,000 customers remain without power in Florida, mostly in Lee and Charlotte counties.