CAPE CORAL, Fla. — If you live in Cape Coral, the letters L-C-E-C may conjure up some memories of frustration and confusion. Hurricane Ian devastated the power grid, forcing line crews to confront damage and flooding they'd never seen before. Through this, LCEC leaders say they're making changes to the company's hurricane restoration plan.
Some of the most prominent damage was down Skyline Boulevard with nearly every power pole blown over like a row of dominos. LCEC leaders say this combination made getting the power back on after Ian so challenging.
"We had the storm surge that came in, which was unprecedented," said Allan Ruth, LCEC's incident commander for Hurricane Ian. "We had widespread damage throughout our entire service area."
Ruth says there were a lot of challenges to restoring power between the storm surge, managing thousands of line workers, and finding access to certain areas.
"There were a lot of one-way corridors and things of that nature, so it was just a combination of those things that impact restoration," Ruth explained. "Another thing was the traffic. Traffic really impedes our ability to be able to get around."
LCEC Communication:
Greenberg waited out the hurricane at home and said his power went out at 11:45 a.m.
He says, like many others, Greenberg had no power for 10 days, 7 hours, and 27 minutes.
"Honestly, when the crews got to this neighborhood, we were going to talk to them and ask them what was going on," he said.
The Cape Coral resident, who said Ian was his first hurricane, says he was left in the dark in more ways than one.
"The lack of communication I think was really the worst thing. " Greenberg explained. "There should've been somebody to manage the expectations of the general public as to when things were going to come back."
He said the only communication he received was through local media and e-mails when there was cell service to get e-mails.
LCEC CEO Denise Vidal disagrees, saying the company did a very good job with communication.
She spent weeks at news conferences across Cape Coral, talking about restoration efforts and discussing challenges when asked by local media.
Vidal said even through cell service and internet issues, the company also communicated beyond news conferences and e-mails. The CEO says they had two in-person tents set up on Pine Island and North Fort Myers, showing what she says are strong communication efforts.
"We would like to have more of a physical presence in the community," she said. "That’s where I want to do some enhancement, with more face-to-face options, more locations like we did on Pine Island."
It's a model she says they are adding to this year's hurricane plan.
"We want to have a presence in the local community and be able to have an outreach and sit down," Ruth said.
LCEC Missed 95% Deadline:
After Ian, CEO Denise Vidal said 95% of its Lee County customers, outside of coastal communities, would have power back on Oct. 8. The day before, 62% had been restored and the company promised to jump 44% in 24 hours.
On Oct. 7, Fox 4 questioned Vidal at a press conference, asking how LCEC planned to reach that number when it took almost a week to reach 62%.
"It’s continuing that track, so as we’ve had areas restored in more of our southern and eastern territories, all of those resources have swept over to Cape Coral," Vidal responded.
When Oct. 8 came around, LCEC missed the deadline by 4%. During Fox 4's sit down with Vidal, we asked what happened.
"We felt very confident in what we were sharing at that time," Vidal explained. "And then it's a situation when you get more information once you dig into the actual location."
Vidal says once crews got to the problem location, they discovered issues not seen from driving, walking, or flying.
"When you're in that mix, at ground zero and you see what the damage is, it took longer in some instances," she said.
Ruth, the boots on the ground, echoed Vidal's response.
"When you start getting into the residential areas, you've got rear lots, you've got a lot of vegetation that's down on top of stuff, broken poles, it's inaccessible," he explained.
LCEC's Outside Resources:
As the man in charge, Ruth saw it all between the broken poles and the materials coming in to bring the area back up and running.
Ruth says they replaced 3,042 power poles. Some took an hour and others took close to eight hours, depending on the damage. They also replaced 1,950 transformers.
29 days after Ian, the power came back on for all LCEC customers that could get service. The people doing that for the community were the line workers, many coming from outside of Lee County.
"I still got it in my heart and that's why I got out of retirement," a Georgia line worker said after Ian.
He's one example of the 53 co-ops from eight states who came to help. FPL and Duke Energy also assisted, and Ruth says resources like Duke are not a company they've used before for restoration.
"Through the experience that we had with Charlie, Wilma, and Irma, our plan was established to manage about 750 out-of-town resources," Ruth said.
After that, they took on mutual resources to help get the power back on faster. However, they did not have a partnership with Florida's Electric Cooperatives, which assists with outside help.
"We separated from FECA years ago," Ruth said.
It was before Ruth and Vidal were in their positions, so they could not answer why LCEC did not have a previous partnership. Despite the last-minute contact with FECA, they brought in more resources.
"We managed about 3,000 resources in total through the course of it," Ruth said. "One of the things that we did was realize that we've gotta take a lot more resources, so we revamped our plan."
He says not only will it help bring in more people, but knowing where to put everyone.
"We very rapidly moved over to the base camp model," Ruth said.
With damaged hotels, Ruth says LCEC now plans to have a camp for the line workers to eat, sleep and shower.
"You could see it in their eyes. They wanted to get everybody up and running," Greenberg said. "The line workers and the field people, have nothing but my greatest admiration."
As southwest Florida approaches nearly one year since Ian, he says the experience came with growth.
"We want to learn from it and grow with the community as well," he said. "It’s always an opportunity and an effort to improve and do better."
