COLLIER COUNTY
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding who is responsible for the delay in getting people into the FEMA trailers in the Par 4 Mobile Home Community in Collier County.
On Wednesday, WINK News reached out to Florida Power and Light to find out why they are still sitting in the dark weeks after being dropped off.
FPL says the trailers are still in the dark because FEMA has not requested electrical service. FEMA said it is waiting on FPL, but the power company said on Thursday that they are still waiting to hear from FEMA.
FPL said getting electricity to the trailers isn’t a problem. The problem is the power company hasn’t received a request to connect them.
For FPL to power up the units, FEMA must inspect each trailer. Once that is done, FPL says FEMA then makes a request for electrical services. FPL says that hasn’t happened.
Meanwhile, the delay is forcing some to make tough decisions.
“I’ve lost two people. It has taken so long that family has actually come down from up north and taking them out of here because it’s taken too long to get power to these units,” said Jimmy Gaughan, Par 4 Mobile Home Park manager.
Gaughan showed WINK News an email response to FEMA from FPL on a timeline for hookups that said there is a 30-day wait. On Thursday, FPL told WINK News that the wait time is about five days once they get the request from FEMA.
WINK NEWS