Shortly before sunset this evening, as the search and rescue missions continue throughout the western impact zone, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Cape Coral to provide the latest updates and new information for the people in Southwest Florida (SWFL). Toplines:
♦ Cape Coral, Pine Island and Sanibel only have 3% power restoration. Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) is overwhelmed and refusing to pay the mutual aid costs for assistance. LCEC is making people suffer. The Florida Governor has seen enough. The state is stepping in.
♦ Effective tomorrow, up to 3,500 personnel from Duke Energy are being redeployed into Cape Coral and Lee County, the State of Florida will pick up the bill for the mutual aid payments LCEC is unwilling to support. As a result, the power restoration timeline for Cape Coral is now moved from October 23rd to October 8th.
♦ Effective tomorrow, 50 generators from the Florida Dept of Emergency Management are being moved into Cape Coral to service water and sewer issues created by LCEC unwillingness to restore power. Lift stations will be powered by state generators until Duke Energy personnel take control and do the work LCEC is unwilling to do.
♦ Effective tomorrow, The Florida Dept of Transportation and the Florida Army Corp of Engineers will begin rebuilding an interim bridge for Pine Island Road access. A temporary bridge is expected to be completed by the end of the week, allowing Pine Island residents to cross into the mainland. Lee County can then figure out a permanent solution.
♦ Effective immediately, the Florida Dept of Transportation will begin a parallel operation with Lee County Transportation to outline a temporary bridge and transit system to reconnect access to Sanibel Island from Punta Rassa (South Fort Myers). Governor Ron DeSantis said there’s no reason to wait a year for a permanent fix to begin. The state will pick up the tab for a temporary bridge system, as Lee County begins the process of figuring out what to do.
♦ The Florida National Guard will begin airlifting utility crews into Sanibel and Captiva Islands to begin restoration assessments.
.
All good decisions by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Ancillary NOTE: Remember what I said yesterday… “On a practical note, I see the millionaire/billionaire boating class are being told they must remove their status yachts from a couple of major locations.”…. 24 hours after that notification to the white wine spritzer crowd, the Florida State DOT now says they will build a fast temporary bridge and local municipal port operations (barges) will not be needed. These issues and rapid responses are related.
The White Wine Spritzer Crowd are the major DeSantis donor crowd. Tell the SWFL millionaires/billionaires they need to move their yachts and suddenly a temporary bridge is being built by the State of Florida. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I ain’t bitchin’, but I also ain’t stupid. Everything is always related to the economics of the thing.
What becomes of LCEC as it has demonstrated it is unfit to handle emergencies?
Suggestion….hang them from a live wire…..
Sounds like a plan!
Co-ops elect their board of directors. I wonder how many will run to be re-elected, presuming the state doesn’t take them over (not sure if they are authorized to do so).
Don’t they buy the electric from FPL and sell it to the rural areas? If this is the case, they wouldn’t have the resources of a huge corporation like FPL that services from Tampa south on the West coast and all of the East coast of FL. From my understanding the center is mostly co-ops of some sort.
So glad Gov DeSantis has authorised the changes. No reason a temp bridge couldn’t be built.
I wonder what form it will take. A pontoon bridge perhaps?
good question
Same thing that happened to Texas’ ERCOT after the big freeze that left 250 people dead . Nothing.
Unfortunately, dissolving the muni electric service (a la Reedy Creek) right now would be utter chaos. The best we can hope for is DeSantis putting out a vague statement on their future status as an electric provider. Their distribution is torn to pieces, and they need boots on the ground to do actual work, which has been ordered.
In all honesty, the state doesn’t want to take them over, other utilities only see rebuilding costs, and the board is likely farming out resumes. Any management should be “retired” as soon as this event is over.
It’s garbage like this which will spell the end for the REA’S and its about time!
I live in rural NW AR. I have lived under 2 separate REAs in 2 different counties. I am sorry, I don’t think they are bad or need to be replaced. 50 yrs under them. Yes, there were outages from tornadoes, bad ice storms, careless drivers, trees, et al. No hurricanes. The longest outage was due to ice, in 17 degree weather for 15 days, and other times a few days and sometimes just outage due to tree limbs for a couple hours. However, the longest outage was with AEP/SWEPCO…a huge electric company serving several states including TX and AR. In our Fayetteville AR home an ice storm caused major damage to power lines, not entire systems…and it took two weeks to restore electricity on our street. When TX suffered their bad power failure a couple of years back, (and we suffered the same bad storm/cold) those big power companies demanded our REA (and others) power their customers and that meant robbing their REA customers. Our group said NO. So you know what AEP/SWECO did? they robbed their customers in SMALL towns in NWA (my granddaughters homes were part of it) to supply that ERGOT POS set up…and my grandkids have small children. No warning. Just switched. None are perfect. This LCEC org is not representative of what I have experienced. The entire grid is not healthy. Thank God, the vehicles run on fuel. Electric bulldozers would not last long under such weather and stress. However, God move these short sighted, full of themselves men (Not LCEC) to do what was right and correct…Never question blessings.
Totally agree.
.
Personal experience in multiple states, much prefer electric coops over mega-electric utility company.
Probably nothing will happen to hold them accountable. Whether in a relatively free state like Florida, or an openly, in-your-face corrupt state like the one I live in utility and phone companies rarely have to answer to customers because there is little if any real competition, and politicians, even the “good” ones are often quite friendly to their interests.
In FL, Charles, are those PS Commissioners elected or appointed by the current Governor for set terms in office?
Follow the election campaign donations to see how PSC decisions are influenced or made , as Sundance says above, “Everything is always related to the economics of the thing!”
The voters of Lee County should demand that LCEC be thrown out. Elect new board members!
For 38 years I have purchased power from a co-op in Georgia and I cannot remember ever voting for anyone there.
Maybe their board is just people collecting paychecks. Maybe Susan Rice, Sally Yates and the obama girls are running it.
I vote for members every year. And I have been doing so for 50 yrs. They rotate members. Comes in the USPS mail system along with a statement.
I said that I paid… It was my wife. With the exception of an off-the-wall $3800 bill we got a couple of decades ago, I really never see them. Soon I will be paying the bills so I will check it out then.
Yup!!!
Unrelated, but I was chatting with a friend in CA. Their electric bill has jumped to $600 the past few months and expected to keep rising. He said half of their bill is transfer fees because the power is coming from out-of-state. Absolutely absurd!!! I don’t think we have a utility grid problem in this country per se, but rather a Power Board and reduction in power production in the name of climate change problem.
These Lee County problems are probably being over exaggerated by the board knowing the state would pick up the dime, the punishment should be dissolution of the power company and allow another entity to form or purchase it. There has to be some law supporting such a move based on the absurdity of not doing anything.
EVERYTHING that has to do with the grid comes from out of state. CA has zero resources of it’s own. Commies don’t believe in resources…they rob from others.
i can only imagine the class action lawsuits against the co op. it will be folded and im sure incorporated into another energy system… cant see any other solution
Sundance, I live in Bonita and have many friends in Cape Coral and Ft Myers. Thanks for the post yesterday that shined the spotlight on LCEC for putting their financial interests ahead of the people. Well done and am awfully glad to see DeSantis taking action.
Here’s hoping his AG investigates the crooked electric cooperative once recovery work stabilizes.
Thanks again
Moody does not impress me one bit. She appears to me to be only interested in investigating alleged price gouging.
We need a real AG. We have not had one that I remember.
Names of management and Trusttes of LCEC are on their web site.
For legal and civil accountability purposes only, of course, oui?
I don’t know why LCEC posts the names of their trustees and management team on their web site. Perhaps so customers will know to whom they may address their letters of appreciation for their excellent service?
Trapper wins my “Sarc comment of the week” award!
“Trapper” deserves it! That was a good one!
Not for long I imagine.
DeSantis & our own SD, Leadership in action.
Bravo gentlemen & God bless!
To me, as an outsider, sounds like an amazing statement of intent and purpose and, as an engineer, a great start at helping these people. I have several affected friends on Sanibel and in Ft. Myers. They are really wanting to get on with their lives, and this is exactly the sort of news they need right now.
A statement it was but words are cheap and actions in this situation will be amazingly difficult from an enginerring stand point. The Corp of engineers do not have a good track record. As an outsider you are using your logical estimations but Cat 4-5 hurricanes defies logic. I would tell your friends on Sanibel to get off the island and work with their insurance companies over the next 3 months to try to get some help. The power grid will take a month or more to reset Primary lines on Sanibel after the National Guard clears a rite of way. They get their water from Reverse osmosis on the island and it requires a lot of power.
Sounds like the words were well paid for.
I do hope for Trump-speed results but you are quite right it will be a challenge.
I have no doubt that Sanibel island residents hold no illusions of how fast this will go, but instead of NO access via ground vehicle to “maybe in a couple months” instead of year or years, pretty good IMHO. Our friends in Ft. Myers are a little better off and will do what it takes.
I’m guessing that most home generators were damaged, and/or natural gas service (if it exists there?) was knocked out? Just curious.
Rebuilding substations…giant generators could operate water and sewer facilities, but getting the fuel would be tricky. So temp roads, and bridges coupled with barge traffic would be great. Military are great bridge builders. The corp of engineers…maybe. Barges can carry large water containers. They just need to start doing it!
DeSantis in a suit… not playing PR games by wearing military gear or army fatigues?
Good. Get her done.
Hopefully when rebuilding, some (electrical?) systems can / may be put underground?
Might that not save future headaches and damage? Have the National Guard dig trenches, if needed, to lower costs and reduce future harm by running electrical and other lines underground.
If this was done every 3-4 years when a biggie hits, it could help. Just thinking outloud, I could be 100% wrong. (Underground utilities flooded?)
Yeah, I think the water table is the biggest issue, though I suspect there are others as well.
Will be interesting to see it play out.
Aren’t coastal islands like that often unstable anyway or am I wrong?
Underground cables aren’t exactly impervious to major problems, it’s a balancing act. You can see problems above ground and correct them, buried problems are often a tough fix. Not always, but often enough.
If there are no substations, there is no electricity with buried or overheads. Must have subs. And if the supply chain does not have a substation on hand, there may be waits. As it stands, those requiring subs BEFORE this hurricane were put on the wait list 3 yrs out.
They will take from another to get to the impacted area. It really more complicated than laying pipe or overheads. On the electrical part.
Underground is under water. Sanibel has a water table from the ocean 1 foot deep.
We have underground lines that are fine even though our water table is high enough that I don’t know one person who has a below ground basement. The lines to houses aren’t buried very deep at all. You really need to get them marked before doing any planting more than a couple inches deep.
I think Long Boat Key tried to go underground. Don’t remember the outcome. I know they discussed it on Anna Maria but the added expense of going underground received much pushback.
Same here in coastal NC. We have underground power lines, and I am very grateful.
Depends on geography. There are very few, if any, basements of any type in all of Florida. 12 inches is not much to work with if the lines are 6 inches in diameter after coating with rubber. Plus, the water is salt water, harshest environment outside of space.
Houston utilities have expended a great deal of funds the past two years to clear the branches of large trees that could fall upon the wire lines. This is appreciated.
Ours did that and it helped to a degree. I was shocked they did something pro-active.
I don’t live in Florida, but Duke Energy is our provider in NC and they do proactive stuff all the time. Duke is very dependable and communicative. I have great respect for that company and I’m glad to see they are helping in Florida.
The are not doing it for nothing. There is a cost. FL will pay.
Florida does that pretty much state wide. Makes for some ridiculous looking oak trees.
I think you are correct. Underground is much more resilient. Sometimes it’s very hard to do depending on the terrain. Lots of water and swamp in Florida.
Here in East Oahu much of our power lines are subterranean. However, the 138Kv+ transmission lines across the Ko’olau mountains aren’t…and heavy rain+wind can knock out those lines for tens of thousands of customers. In those instances we’ve had 2-3 days of no power because the trouble occurred in terrain only accessible by helo.
Such is the “price of paradise”, at least in part.
Generators and a supply of fuel for those generators is a good idea.
Land formations do matter.
A couple of times throughout the years, we have evacuated to the resort areas around the attractions of SeaWorld and Disney. Their lines are underground,and they don’t lose power typically. Disney is always up and running the day after a storm comes through. I don’t know if underground lines are possible on the beach where erosion can take place so quickly from a storm?
Where we live, our lines are above ground. We lose power during hurricanes almost every time but this time. We think we didn’t lose power with Ian because Duke Energy was out months back cutting trees away from power lines in our area. We were shocked and felt so blessed to have power still. It makes me realize how spoiled I am to amenities like AC now, even though we didn’t always have it when I was growing up.
Nord Stream used to run under the Baltic Sea w/out any problems until recently, just saying.
Until idiot Blinken – master of the Afghanistan debacle – decided to blow it up?
Not as purdy though.
My community is 3 miles down that road that runs over that bridge you probably saw at Ft Myers beach. We have underground electric with those big green transformers on the ground every few houses. They were under water. Wonder what that does to them.
Yikes! Hope you have power, or get it back soon.
That was pure reassurance to the people. I think it was a great move to give encouragement and let people know he was getting them help. He’s always seemed to be a down-to-earth guy. Even corporate executives do the pancake thing once in a while. It lets people know he cares and helps in a tough situation. He is so calm, and always uses common sense.
Is that what we got at the federal levels with Joe? Most voters are not nearly as savy.
The old telephone trunk cables (with paper insulated wires) are underground where I used to live. They run in sealed underground conduit and a air-compressor maintains a constant air pressure in the conduit The air help keep water out, the air in it dry, and when leaks occur an air loss in the conduit signals the telephone company there is a leak in the conduit.
It surely would be more expensive to do this with the electrical service backbone initially, including steel substations built watertight like a submarine, but it certainly could be a one and done, rather than continually repairing storm damage over the life of the network’s backbone.
The zoning boards in areas like these should demand it for all new and rebuilt construction.
I think that the problem is that everyone is clamoring for immediate action and power restoration, so no matter how much sense it makes to go underground – it takes far longer to accomplish and is far more expensive, so the power companies (being near-governmental-entities) take the easy and cheap and short term way out. That having been said – if they were really forward thinking, they’d have a plan in place years ahead of time that laid out “…when the next massive hurricane wipes out our infrastructure, we’re gonna be ready with the right-aways and easements in place and the trenchers lined up as far as you can see, and we’ll at least get a 60% or 70% solution in place when the opportunity arises…” Never happens, but we can dream…
Yeah. I didn’t get the training about how to hold the spatulas. Perhaps sharing a bite of breakfast with real people…minus the body guards…
The water table in most of Florida is way too high for that approach, otherwise, it would have been done years ago in Cocoa Beach, another barrier island in Florida.
He doesn’t sound happy with LCEC.
I am also provided electricity by a co-op and can’t imagine them doing this but I’m also checking into where we get our electricity and how our rates are set.
I was out for 5 hours on Friday while Ian was going through SC. We had power restored by 6:45 when it was still raining but the winds and rain had both calmed down. We didn’t have all the devastation Florida had but still our crews were out in the last of the hurricane fixing things.
Unless I’m missing something, it sounds like LCEC was successful in dragging their feet causing their customers to suffer long enough for the State of Florida to step in and pick up the costs LCEC should be paying. Basically sounds like rewarding disgusting behavior by that co-op’s board.
I bet DeSantis eventually gets that issue handled! Good work just jumping and getting the problem fixed.
The LCEC cooperative behaves just like a condo board, responsible for the maintenance and repair of their physical assets. And we all know how that worked out in Florida.
DeSantis is a damn good governor. He has been almost flawless imo. It’s a shame he isn’t suited to carry that up to the Presidency. Hopefully someone will be ready for 2028 after Trump is done with his 2nd term (Don Jr. may be the best option tbh).
How long will it take ( for political reasons) for the press to focus on the % of the population of sanibel, ft. Myers beach, pine island,etc. Sad to bring it up but it will be brought up. Pray and help others
And you just know they will try and make it about race, one way or another.
I have four mixed race adult children. Two are very left leaning, two lean conservative. Like clockwork their positions on any issue can be predicted.
Why isn’t he suited for the presidency??
The concept of “special interests” has never set well with me.
From the LCEC Board of Trustees website page..
“..LCEC is committed to conducting business with a high level of integrity and in an ethical and responsible manner..”..
Definitions
integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
ethical: relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these.
responsible: having an obligation to do something, or having control over or care for someone, as part of one’s job or role.
One thing that I’ve noticed……we haven’t seen US Govt “officials” on tv telling us how good they are doing and thanking each other for a “job well done”. When Floridians get their State fixed, they should take a day off, thank the Lord and do some celebrating! And give Ron Desantis a well-earned pay raise! You guys are lucky you have him! If a hurricane hit Ohio, Mike DeWine would be a blubbering mess! Press on Florida!!!
I’ve noticed no help offered by the big tech companies. Where is the Bill Gates foundation, or Bezos Foundation, or Elon Musk offering help, or Zuckerberg of Face Book, or Jack of Twitter?
Where’s BLM or the LBGTQ groups or Hollyweird “celebrities.” Where’s Disney? You won’t know what President Trump is doing, as he known for helping on the QT.
Elon donated his satellite thingy.
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-rubin-report/elon-musk-ron-desantis-partner
I imagine Reverend Graham will show up soon.
He better. I sent him money the morning after 🙂
Also sent some to the Cajun Navy
Rev. Graham and Samatarians purse are on the ground in fl. Only charity I give to and trust.
It’s probably just as well. Those blue haired freaks would be useless anyway! And Everytime those “officials” open their mouths, they shove their feet into their yaps. Todays federal govt is only good for tweeting and letting us kno what hacks they really are.
If it were to happen in my state our governor would spend a whole day checking his hair.
Does anyone know how Marco Island is after hurricane Ian? My sister has a condo on the beach there, and I can’t find any news about the island or the beachfront there. Thankfully, she was not there during the hurricane.
You might check NOAA web site. They have some excellent aerial footage of the hurricane aftermath
I am sure it is fine. Being in Naples, (north of Marco) I have seen few condos damaged . Cars parked in underground parking garages , I have seen flatbed after flatbed taking cars away that were underwater. Tell her you will take it off her hands if she is too worried. Pray and help others
I received an email this morning from the agency we used to rent a condo on the beach in Marco.
They assured us that the condo we are renting in Dec is fine. There was some flooding and obviously landscape damage, but no intrusion into the condos themselves and no structural damage.
This would be in the vicinity of Collier Blvd and Winterberry, south end of the island.
Generally, power is back and businesses are beginning to reopen.
Enjoy your stay. It really is beautiful there. Pray and help others
From local news Marco is doing incredibly well on the restoration…so much so that there is not much coverage…just comments and numbers that look and sound real good.
Has LCEC been run into the ground financially to the point that they can’t meet their expenses? After this is over, I would hope an intrusive audit is coming, like is needed in DC.
Planned?
I do not understand this part…
“Ancillary NOTE: Remember what I said yesterday… “On a practical note, I see the millionaire/billionaire boating class are being told they must remove their status yachts from a couple of major locations.”…. 24 hours after that notification to the white wine spritzer crowd, the Florida State DOT now says they will build a fast temporary bridge and local municipal port operations (barges) will not be needed. These issues and rapid responses are related.
The White Wine Spritzer Crowd are the major DeSantis donor crowd. Tell the SWFL millionaires/billionaires they need to move their yachts and suddenly a temporary bridge is being built by the State of Florida. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I ain’t bitchin’, but I also ain’t stupid. Everything is always related to the economics of the thing.”
Is this a shakedown?
It is a problem that has been solved.
They’ll keep their parking space and pay for something else to appease the peasants.
Don’t let a crisis go to waste works for the Uniparty crowd
Friend is an EMT in the Ft Myers area. They’ve been pulling bodies from attic spaces non stop. Storm surge shoved them up there.
This body count isn’t being reported properly. It’s high
I was wondering as well. I haven’t seen any updates on the death toll today.
My cousin is an EMT and he’s transported 2 (failed) suicide patients in the last 2 days. There’s probably alot that succeeded yet to be found.
“storm surge shoves (the bodies) up there”.
Possibly, …I know in New Orleans, a lot of people make the mistake of staying INSIDE their houses.
As the water rises, they climb higher and higher, to stay out of it, end up trapped in the attic, as the water continues to rise.
They find lots with bloody hands with broken bones, trying to punch a hole, to get out.
EVACUATE from water, and get OUT of the house, climb on the roof.
Or, as they say in New Orleans,..”Always keep an axe in your attic!”
Horrible.
Oh, my God!
138 in Irma. We’ll go over that. The Sheriff initially reported “hundreds”.
The Sheriff won’t report accurate numbers until next of kin and cause of death can be established. It’s forensics. He discussed that yesterday.
This man is a true model of how someone who holds an office should conduct himself. Period. No excuses. End of story.
We need about 350 more just like him spread out between the house and the senate.
This man demonstrates just how important STATE Government IS.
Yes, a State Governor is probably the most important, but he needs (and RDS HAS) a supportive State Legislature.
WE have been fat too focused on the Federal Govt, and on POTUS and Congress, AT THE EXPENCE of State Governments.
Part of restoring Constitutional Governments means shifting more of our focus and attention on State Governments.
Amen.
I like what DeSantis (and the legislature) did regarding Disney World when they stepped over the line one too many times. Is there anything similar that can be done to LCEC to punish THEM for what they’re doing?
The Florida Public Service Commission is LCEC’s regulator.
https://www.floridapsc.com/
They have an online form for complaints.
https://www.floridapsc.com/ConsumerAssistance/AjaxConsumerComplaintForm
It is my understanding that the PSC only regulates IOUs (investor owned utilities) and the co-ops are federally controlled. The only state agency that may be able to help is the office of consumer affairs. The difference between Reedy Creek (Disney) and LCEC is that LCEC has a federally backed charter.
That is interesting. Thank you.
Rumor has it that DW is planning on opening their own airport sometime soon. Thoughts?
Won’t happen. The two counties won’t allow it.
DeSantis will put something in motion. Their behavior is unconscionable.
Sanibel is a retirement spot for the Agency honchos too. Lots of spooks and beltway insiders that made their money the easy way
“Spooks”?
Mike Pence’s pals.
CIA spies – calm down
Well, everything is always related to the economics of the thing. Just look how fast 50 illegal immigrants vanished from Martha’s Vineyard. And no one asked Obama his opinion about it either.
Bottom line. People in Florida are getting help.
Long time Floridian, living in SFL. SWFL was not the only area affected. Many in CFL and across the hurricane path also lost power and have damage from wind/flooding. Kudos and prayers to all the linemen and first responders out restoring power and rescuing my fellow Floridians. This was one of the worst forecasted hurricanes, resetting the low bar set with Irma. A week before landfall Ian was to hit the panhandle. Every NHC update the path moved. I have a friend that left CFL on Monday, to help his mom prepare in Cape Coral. On Monday, Ian was supposed to go onshore around Tampa. It went onshore on Wednesday, in the Ft. Myers area. Desantis has my vote. His leadership is night and day to flip flop Crist. I am going to hope Robert Barnes is correct that Trump/Desantis 2024 has already been agreed upon. If y’all are interested in why it is legal (both Trump and Desantis are FL residents) you can look up his explanation. It’s been done before when both Bush/Cheney were residents of Tx. It will be interesting to see what y’all say if and when that happens. It would mean that all that money was raised for their joint campaign.
Not quite! Cheney changed his residence to Wyoming at the last minute. President Trump could change his residence to another state at the last minute. It is not illegal to have both candidates from the same state, just very unwise.
Trump and DeSantis are worlds apart in national economic theories. That might cause some problems.
If DeSantis had been VP in the 45 administration, he would have been the person running emergency preparation and the COVID response. The task originally fell to Pence then morphed.
From what I read, the office of the vice president has responsibility for the emergency national stockpile. When COVID came here, the stockpile had been allowed to dwindle down. Hence the lying about masks because PPE stockpile was too low. The ventilators that were supposed to be available in NY were not there.
The federal COVID response under DeSantis would have been a different animal. DeSantis is said to be a data guy. He would have asked to see more evidence to back up any recommendations. The scarf lady would have been on a short chain or tossed.
Talent at Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) won’t go unnoticed in Washington.
LOL! Yes, they will be moved to D.C. posthaste!
In my last post I invoked the ghost of the failure named Chris Christy and speculated that Gov. DeSantis would most likely disappoint .
Thank God for the sake of the people in the disaster zone as well as the future of their governor I was wrong.
His actions have already placed him head and shoulders above most.
Keep up the good work Governor DeSantis.
Says nothing but good things about you that you man up!
Thanks Boo,
I am a very opinionated person who has no difficulty speaking my mind. Not to hear myself speak but to add positively to the discourse.
I am trying to influence and affect changes of opinion.
To accomplish this one should strive to never be wrong. To accomplish this One must be open minded and willing to see things as they are and when need be correct their stance .
If You stop looking for truth you fall into the category of one who wants to always be right.. a closed minded know it all with zero credibility.
If in the course of a discussion words that inform of a fact based reasoned adjustment one
has in a position ,many times ,become the most impactful things you can say.
Very persuasive.
Just learned yesterday that my family in FL is safe – but are not. Alcohol etc are craved to drive the stress and shock to numb themselves from the shock of this storm. Your’s truly get’s that whole gig.
Myself, I still am in shock and what is the new word – “firehosed” by the whole hurricane scenario. I think firehosed means being overwhelmed by all the information coming your way at one time.
I pray for all in Florida, especially Sundance. Whoever you are, you will always be my HERO as you have been for a long while. God/dess bless you and keep you. Hope this link works.
Funny (not) how people never used to freak out about being in a crowd. Enjoying themselves. What a loss this whole shindig has been re the deep state plan to destroy humanity.
David Bowie – Heroes
Loved this video thank you so much.
I am on of those people who don’t really search
the internet for anything anymore.
There are many things I haven’t seen. I loved Bowie
growing up. He was always ahead of his time music wise.
To consider. Lots of folks of course bought condos and even homes in subdivisions with HOAs. Vast majority probably buying on regular mortgage. Besides their own personal loss of many $1,000s to $100,000+ that might be insured, there will also be special assessments that could amount to $10,000-$100,000 per unit in a decent size condo building. And I think due immediately to get work going. Pools, landscaping, building in general, etc. This will easily wipe some folks out, especially retirees. I think the above is how it works.
The HOA members would just vote out the current group and put a new group in to stop the charges.
Then there won’t be a building to have probably. The bill will need to be paid. Or it could very well be condemned if no work immediately.
A friend has a condo in Panama City and has described some aspects. I once asked how deep do building support piers go since really no bedrock to get to. He said building piers usually go down 180 feet. He said often a couple million in piers for a standard size building before even getting to above ground portion. Obviously, those supports aren’t/weren’t affected by the storm, just an indication of the backbone infrastructure costs already in some of these buildings.
LOVELY.!!!! This man just sent a SHOCK message to the Demrats who think peoples will cave and suck up to their dry teat no matter if it is dry and offers absolutely NO NOURISHMENT for a life worth living.
Sahweet! Whatever it takes, wherever they come from.
Sundance, I don’t want to sound too ghoulish, but with the current US economic trajectory and some people just giving up and saying not again, there may be buying opportunities for the bold, patient, and able in Florida in the next year or two.
Any meditations or advice for those seeing this as a potential inroad/investment opportunity for someone thinking about a winter residence? Someone’s going to buy the quitters properties. Might as well be a conservative who would rather be in the eastern Palm Springs than the western one in So Cal.
Have fought earthquakes/fires/floods/tides/leftists in SoCal so not coming in as a Bambi.
Getting old though, and not sure I want to deal with these Montana winters for the next 20+ years without a respite.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I have no idea. I’m fighting to keep all the people here.
I would be doing the sane if I were wearing your moccasins. Good morning.
Just keep an eye on the new FEMA Flood Maps that will be coming now after Ian for SWFL, they may impact the property values negatively and if so, don’t buy in to quickly and get stuck with a property that you can’t aford to insure or have problems selling later. Just MHO, hope it helps.
Best of Luck though, I am sure FL would welcome you.
I don’t mind rich people personally.
They will pay for daily helicopter flights with food, gas, and water to their island and they will be pleased.
Happy rich guy, happy serf!
Fantastic job – great response – I say a prayer to all survivors and their families – We are fortunate to have Gov. DeSantis as our great leader. The Elon Must uplink – what a great thing to bring into the restoration POD’s.
https://rumble.com/v1mi84o-desantis-claps-back-at-a-cnn-reporter.html
They just can’t help themselves — they are all about force, aren’t they?
https://rumble.com/v1mjs1q-desantis-blasts-kamala-for-trying-to-play-identity-politics-with-a-storm-an.html
Sleazy Dems, they just can’t be human beings first. And, they can’t be Americans first.
Wow.
Those who have eyes to see, let them see.
The state of Florida should charge this pukes for the costs and fine unto 500%. Not even kidding. Bankrupt them and put responsible people in their place.
Question, is there any link to joe byedone?
It pays to bitch sometimes.
One of the YouTube videos had a big ol Chinook rolling in to land.
Impressive action by the Governor. I did not listen to any of the radio coverage today but previously local media was fawning over the actions of LCEC.
I wonder if that fawning will now turn into dismissive reports on the actions taken by DeSantis.
Since when is it an option to refuse mutual aid? Has this ever been done before? How is it possible for every board, agency and official to sit on their hands until the governor personally intervenes?
I am a citizen and resident of Pinellas County served by Tampa Electric Company so my comments must be taken with those limitations in experience. I have however lived in another state in a location served by an electric cooperative. Electric cooperatives are member owned, meaning the customers who receive electrical service own the organization. Sometimes in order to qualify for service, you must purchase a membership share or shares of stock, the members vote on the board of directors, and the members receive a ‘dividend’, ‘discount’ or ‘rebate’ for excess funds collected at the end of the year. The member – board members presumably work to optimize the investment and operations for all members in order to keep costs as low as practical. Electric cooperatives were originally formed to provide electric service in rural areas where there was no interest by outside investors. Electric cooperative boards are sometimes dominated by large farmers in the areas they serve, but those days are probably long past in Lee County. All that being said, the service and outage response time by LCEC is driven by the members and board members who are also customers. In order to keep electrical costs as low as possible, the board has determined the level of investment in infrastructure, equipment, staff and the expenses they are willing to accept arising from day to day operating decisions ‘during typical times’. Hurricane Ian or any other hurricane for that matter are not typical times. The board could have spent much more on hurricane preparedness and recovery, but that would come with much higher electric rates. Instead, the board made a defecto decision to rely upon Lee County, the State of Florida, or the federal government to act as a re-insurer in times of large loss. Given that all areas of Florida are subject at one time or another, to large loses from hurricanes, it is not a bad decision. It is what happened exactly, the State of Florida stepped in, is taking control, and will rebuild the electrical infrastructure. To portray this situation as the result of evil or greedy corporations is unfair. The members voted on the level of service and response for which they were willing to pay.
Just some observations from yesterday.
It was my understanding from OTA TV local that Pine Island was under mandatory evacuation, regardless , and that the LEO agencies and *.mil was moving in there for damage and body assessment. The Sheriff literally needs to establish crime scenes for fatalities and forensics. Lee Co. Sheriff took some heat at the presser for doing that but he whacked them just as hard as DeSantis does. That dude is MAGA all the way.
As of about noon there had three arrests made for looting. The Sheriff made the comment that “If you walk into a house to loot you will be taken out.” Indeed. Residents on news interviews at the Cape report nightly gun shots. Luckily, we know how to shoot down here and the platforms are generally zero’d.
RSW looked like Bagram AFT mid day insofar as many Chinooks were air lifting Humvees over to the islands. Mil med helos were also staging across the runways in the dozens. I’m 40 miles east and the Coast Guard helos were buzzing east and west along State Route 80 all day. That could have been Medivac, but I don’t know. Clewiston and Belle Glades hospitals maybe…
Around mid day three or four barges were in the water and the narrative was that they were assembling them. There was also drone footage of front end loaders filling in washed out road areas with sand. I think that was Pine Island. They were about half way through that. Sand…I repeat sand. If you look at both ends of the Sanibel wash out you’ll notice that it was build on top of sugar sand fill. Why they are not moving rocks in there for fill is beyond me.
LCEC is continuing to fudge numbers and stats going out for broadcast. No matter what they say NO news reporters can find people that have power over there. And, believe me the LOCAL news people are whacking LCEC just as hard as DeSavage. If you listen to those LCEC people at news conferences they are clearly the same people that occupy Washington–psychopathic smug leftist gaslighting liars.
The independent heavy equipment operators have moved from Hendry and Glades counties over there. The low din of lot clearing for home building has absolutely stopped over here, together with all the dump trucks and concrete mixers moving fill dirt and ‘crete for the new homes. Good. At this point they are just building new foreclosures down here.
He is amazing
Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) is a co-op – doesn’t that mean that the people they “serve” can opt out of receiving their services? My electricity is provided by a co-op and if I found out they were manipulating services, doing the things LCEC is doing, I would be knocking on doors and handing out flyers to get people to move to a company that would work on my behalf to provide those services.
Imagine for a moment if our transition to Venezuela were advanced. Even without extreme weather, Venezuela experiences power outages routinely, brownouts, power schedules and so on. Routine and preventive maintenance does not get done. Things work until they break, then they are abandoned. There is no one to fix them, no one left there still knows how, there are no parts available, no money to pay for parts or labor. I’ve read estimates there are millions on manhours of unperformed maintenance on the electrical generation system alone.
Under such circumstances, it would be impossible to rebuild after a disaster. After a wipeout, people would walk away and, with no money or assistance, become homeless refugees.
Permanently.
This is the future they have planned for you. Productive societies produce surplus which can be used to reach in and help when warranted. Our society only produces surplus money-things, not goods or servicez, and that surplus, such as it is, is skimmed or redirected to the Bezos / Zuckerberg / Wall Street crowd. And of course to Zelinksi.
Hope ALL those trashing Gov DeSantis as a man, leader, NOW reverse and give him CREDIT.
HE IS A LEADER.
Wish he were my Gov.
AND, if a disaster like Ian, who else would you want as a Gov? Bush, Gavin, WHitmer.
FEW, if ANY can manage and lead like him.
Honestly no one is asking or saying the obvious. These areas are part of the Everglades and shouldn’t be rebuilt. They should be demoed and left alone.
Living in many parts of Florida is a unrealistic expectation. It’s swamp land and flood planes. Yet we keep allowing people to build cheap crappy homes dumb places and forcing everyone to fund the massive insurance claims like a socialist tax.
Same with power and water. Here we are again funding a co-op and bailing it out in an area where the actual power companies wouldn’t operate… For a reason!!
Florida has become an overpopulated disaster waiting to happen. Ta-da! Now listen to what the geography and mother nature told you.
FPL customers here on east coast encountered a somewhat similar situation during the 2004 season.
For many years prior, think after Andrew, the company did very minimal maintenance, and even less preventive/ upgrade work. Bad for the bottom line you know.
After Francis our neighborhood was 13 days out, Jeanne was another 13.
When the crews from Duke arrived they asked if FPL did any maintenance? The reply was yes, your doing now.
By doing this the money came from a disaster fund that didn’t effect the bottom line.
A nicely, well written, very critical letter signed by almost all in the neighborhood and many in the town, just happened to make it to the PSC in Tallahassee.
A former FPL employee that was well versed in the management side helped greatly with the neighborhood effort, the folks at the company were fairly sure he was involved with the letter, to say he got a couple calls is putting mildly.
Bottom line is the company is now spending on preventive and regular maintenance along with all the green boondoggle, there is great suspicion that one is paying for the other.
The people of Lee county might do well when possible to inundate the PSC with their complaints, be relentless, don’t let it die on the vine.
A cooperative that fails to well, cooperate; has lost sight of the Prime Directive, or something.
All the electric co-ops are corrupt. Central Florida co-op raising rates @23%!!!! And are SUPER HAPPY to bring “high speed internet to rural FLA.” Really? So does that come with developers? (DUH!) Track housing, strange people, changing the landscape? Selling land to china based monkey labs like they did in Levy county? All the pervy stuff we are seeing when “help for the rural folk.” comes? Another corrupt system, under the guise of “co-op” grassroots b.s. And all linked to the county commisioners, politicians, etc…. at the expense of the honest citizen… Its a big club, and we ain’t in it!
So, my question is this: Is this purely a political stunt being pulled by LCEC, being that we are this close to an election??
And, secondly: If it is, why continue to allow them to operate?
If they cannot serve their customers in a time of need, then there’s no need to have them around, period.
To me, who is just poor, salty and crusty old gal in NW Arkansas with goats, chickens, dogs, cats, lots of family, I see God Almighty using Holy Spirit to move the minds and hearts of those penny pinching, yacht owning to start moving rocks…the heavy ones. They don’t even know why they are doing it. God saw enough…he tapped Ron on the shoulder…now, now, Ron it is time to do the right and correct thing! Praise God, Praise God, Praise God. Woe unto those at LCEC. God has turned their selfishness into your blessing. Oh Thank you, Lord.
we built a temp bridge across lake pontchartrain after katrina fairly quickly to reconnect new orleans back to the slidell.. the corps has much better expereince with these issues since then too.. eventually a much higher and substantial interstate bridge was built to replace it and avoid it being washed out ever again
And the new Twin Span I-10 bridge to Slidell is excellent and should be high enough to avoid future hurricane storm surges.
However, if the Corp had been allowed by that NOLA Fed Judge to complete it’s Congressionally approved and funded Storm Surge Barrier project at the mouth of the Rigolets that leands from Lake Borgne and the Gulf to Lake Pontchatrain, then Katrina’s storm surge would have manly been prevented from invading Lake Pontchartrain that eventually flooded Orleans and Jefferson Parishes when the Citiy/Parish/Levee Board outflow canal walls collapsed under the added pressures causing many $ billions of material losses, as well as many deaths.
The Eco freaks persuaded the judge to halt the project in 1970 and four years later, the Corps gave up their fight in his Fed Court and the mobile barrier was never built.
Those responsible for this legal intervention still deny any guilt for the catastrophic disaster and deluge that resulted in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina.
Unless the name is a lie, Lee County Electric Coop is owned by its Members, i.e., Customers. When the elected officers refuse to help the members, something is obviously wrong. Do the members want help without paying for it? Have the officers stolen or squandered or failed to collect “emergency reserve” funds ? There has to be more to this than that the Coop management doesn’t want to spend the money to restore power to its members.
LCEC didn’t ask me if i wanted to spend the money to restore power faster……… I hope my fellow Cape Coral residents are paying attention to LCEC’s actions, and realize they do not represent the “members”