Category Fort Myers Beach

Oct 3 2022

Hurricane Ian Recovery Update, Day 4


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 3, 2022 | Sundance

I am going to start the Day 4 update with the golden words from dear Sharon, who eloquently writes:

“…..the holding pattern for tens of thousands…..”

“That’s just one thread in the word pictures presented by Sundance–a thread that is sort of a knothole in the fence…. and looking through it, there are details to be seen….confusion, uncertainty, counting the cash in one’s pocket (again), checking (again) for any possible cell phone coverage, glancing over to the neighbor who hasn’t taken a break for several hours (perhaps for fear that if they sit down, they won’t be able to get back up again)…. men at work with chainsaws…. women returning to what remains of the house to dig through the kitchen or the bathroom cupboards in search of some more, still usable everyday things….

And, …  this is an open-ended transition. Length uncertain. Ultimate destination uncertain. How to get there–mostly undetermined at this point.

In terms of individual lives, places to live, jobs/careers…. most of them probably don’t know for sure, yet, whether they are on an onramp or an offramp.

Sometimes I wonder if reaction to such events from a distance clouds the reality that those who are living it have no capacity to step away from it, not even for a moment. The lines on the field have been obliterated and none who are living this can be completely sure of how far away the goal line is.”

Perfectly and succinctly stated.

Day 4, is exactly like all day fours I have experienced before this one.  The autonomic response starts to give way to adrenalin exhaustion and human batteries need to be recharged.  Day four is also when internal callouses become valuable.

For some a quick “stay focused on ‘the task at hand‘” can suffice.  For others it’s, ‘go home to your family – take a break – see you the day after tomorrow‘.

When you build internal callouses you train yourself not to look at the miles, you look at the two to four feet in front of you.  Look up and you will allow the whisper of despondency to creep in. Stay focused on the 2-to-4-foot task at hand and your brain remains wired in a manageable condition.

Steady, we fill that 20 or 40-yard container, then go eat. Reengage, clear the path, fill another 20-yard and then move… Always forward.  If you start calculating the time it will take to clear and fill 4,768 40-yard containers the gremlins will whisper in your ear all day and wear you down.

Ignore the gremlins.

Instead, listen to the faces – hear their stories, then keep going to the next set of faces…. Always forward.

I should also mention that sunscreen is an essential hurricane supply.  If you see the 30 or 50 block version, the thick stuff on sale, throw one in your battery box.  If needed, slobber it all over yourself during morning coffee time and again early afternoon after chainsaw sharpening.

It has been a long time since I have seen so many east/west helicopter flights all day.  The southwest Florida skies look like the air highways around Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I can only imagine what RSW airport looks like.  Probably quite an ocean of helicopter aviation.  The gremlin wants me to imagine lots of things related to seeing so many search and rescue missions ongoing this far after the event. I’m ignoring the whisper.  Death toll at 76.

Warning in advance – What follows below comes from my cracker disposition:

SWFL has a tremendous amount of unemployed ‘service workers‘ right now.  SWFL also needs a massive and organized laundry operation.  Hint to SWFL management, please put those two elements together. Thank you in advance.

“Mandatory” evacuations continue on the barrier islands.  There is a considerable resistance effort underway from the ‘crackers.’  Hint to SWFL management, if the resisting resident has a boat registered in the county (easy to check), then retreat from the severity of your effort.  Again, thank you in advance.

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.

Having grown up in the region and remembering where the barges operated before the roads and bridges were built, I suspect we are going back to pre-1960’s municipal port operations as an interim action to supply the islands. This type of infrastructure repurposing makes sense, but a whole generation of the white wine spritzer tribe is big mad right now [insert cracker squinting smile here].

I mentioned on Day 2 the historic Sanibel lighthouse is still standing.

Since 1884, every twelve seconds the lighthouse beacon blinked twice, creating a sequence of four navigational alerts per minute.  Ask me how I know that, and I will show you the clock of my childhood.

I learned how to read a sextant on the front porch of the Lightkeepers house.   I traded Mr. Brennan 4 fresh trout from Dixie Beach flats for the lessons, there were two (one day and one night), on using a sextant. From that moment at the age of around ten, I was known as “Trout” when I came back. It wasn’t funny.

Long before there was a ‘city glow’ on the eastern shore, the Sanibel beacon remained my waypoint in life.  Twelve seconds, blink twice, four per minute.  I spent tens of thousands of minutes with the comforting beacon at my six.  I was always safe when I could see it and I never strayed beyond its reach.

My first bull shark took me for an almost 1,000 blink-long tour of the back bay inlet during a particularly memorable night.

I also ‘caught‘ my first Silver King within reach of the beacon at sunrise.  Recording the moment by removing (then laminating) the trophy scale which to this day sits in an old cigar box filled with buttons, wire, ribbons, weird metal bits and mysterious childhood treasures.

That particular morning was exceptionally memorable because I proclaimed myself a ‘king fisher.’  Unfortunately, it was a short-lived moment of ego quickly deflated by an unusually furious mom – because I was going to be late for middle school.  “King Fisher” shouts I, dashing out the door, while hearing “fisher fool” chasing my ear from behind.

The Calusa Indians were smart enough never to live on this particular narrow finger of barrier islands.  Instead, they buried their dead out there.

As I get older, I realize that many generations made the Calusa wise.

Love to all,

Sundance

(left) Before Hurricane Ian – (right) After Hurricane Ian

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WaKhuIjaQPM%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Oct 2 2022

Hurricane Ian Recovery Update, Day 3


Posted originally in the conservative tree house on October 2, 2022 | Sundance

First things first.  We are blessed by a loving God who continues to provide the greatest nourishment we need, food for the soul.  You’ll find it all around, including in the gift of a temperature irrelevant shower, the first in five days, and a belly full of beef stew, Dinty Moore of course. 🙂  Finest gourmet dining in years. Perfect.

Airborne search and rescue efforts continue with particular emphasis on the barrier islands and back bay region.  If you haven’t watched the video of U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin aircrew from Airstation Miami, you should [See Here].  It’s a great example of the hundreds of rescue flights taking place all day, and the kid who used the mirror to signal the flight crew and protect his grandma is, well, sharp.

Again, if you evacuated the coastal region of Southwest Florida (SWFL), stay put where you are.  There is no power and no water system; literally nothing to sustain you that you do not bring yourself.  If you do enter this region to check on your property, do so with the intent to leave again because there’s no current timeline for any restoration. A strict sundown curfew remains in effect throughout.

Rescue ferry service from Sanibel Island continues for those who can make it to the Western side of the destroyed causeway.  The entire island is being evacuated leaving only the national guard in place to provide security.  No reasonable estimate for any recovery.  Officials need everyone off the island.  Earliest estimates for repair of the major damaged infrastructure are being made in terms of years.

Air and boat rescue from Matlacha and Pine Island continues.  Like Sanibel Island the bridges are gone.  State and county law enforcement resources are too stressed to operate in a location now inaccessible by road.  Mandatory evacuations have been ordered.  See Graphic for how to leave Pine Island today (Sunday):

Residents are asked to make their way to the location above and national guard trucks will take you to Coast Guard boats.  Evacuees will leave their vehicles at the pick-up point.  This is a mandatory island evacuation until interim recovery efforts can take place to make returning the island possible.  My heart goes out to the people forced to leave their homes, some, likely many, with no place to go after the shelter stay.

It’s a mess.  Pine Island is mostly salty good people with working callouses and a mix of retirees who just wanted to live quietly in an old Florida location.  Now this assembly of people need to figure out where to live with no available housing for 50+ miles.   According to local media every hotel and motel within 50 miles of the western impact zone are full of evacuees.   Long term, I don’t think anyone knows what this is going to look like.

I’m not going to repeat the prior post, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is rightly calling out the Lee County Electrical Cooperative (LCEC) for not seeking more help to deal with the catastrophic situation surrounding full infrastructure collapse of the power grid.  There is almost no energy recovery effort taking place in the western impact zone and thousands of homes have fallen powerlines atop them, around them, or blocking the roads in front of them.

More people are starting to notice the absence of LCEC recovery efforts. It’s good that Governor DeSantis called them to task personally and publicly.

Recovery operations continue with a street-by-street debris removal process.  Once most debris are dealt with, the residents who remain can start to organize life in semi-livable structures albeit without electricity or potable running water.

Thankfully many people evacuated the coastal region including Cape Coral.  The remaining population needing resources is less than normal. Those who remain are traveling up to 30+ miles for gasoline for generators.  Utility restoration is being discussed in terms of multiple weeks.  Most businesses are closed.  Reality is starting to settle in, and tough decisions are being made.

If you lift your head up from the chainsaw buzz and listen, just about every conversation is about the void of longer-term information that would help people make decisions about their next move.  It’s like tens of thousands of people in a holding pattern trying to figure out what comes next.  The current status is short-term sustainable for most, day-by-day, after all inherently people are resilient.  However, two weeks out or six weeks out, no one can see that far.

Naples is in full restoration mode.  Bonita Springs and Fort Myers are not far behind.  The inland areas are doing similar yeoman’s work getting some semblance of life back to a sustainable place, including their ability to earn a living.  But travel west into Cape Coral, a town of approximately 230,000 residents, and it’s an entirely different situation.

The barrier islands are being forcibly evacuated.  The western or coastal areas of southwest Florida are hammered in every imaginable way.  Everything, including the ability to restore, rebuild, operate a business or work in the region, is contingent upon the return of utilities like power and water.   Right now, those are questions without answers.  Hence, the holding pattern for tens of thousands.

Amid all of the uncertainty the resiliency of the ordinary person or family is on full display.  Neighbors helping neighbors, generators being shared in four-to-six-hour increments to allow multiple homes to maintain a fridge, that sort of thing.  Fellowship and connections deepening.  Good stuff.

Gus is a 55-year-old air conditioning repair man.  But Gus cannot work without power, and Gus’s bosses will not put the 50+ employee workforce on the road.  Jesse is a 25-year-old barber, with no electricity at his shop, ergo no income.   Mac is a single 25-year-old auto mechanic living in a town without power to operate a business where he could work, and there’s no electricity or water at his house.  Juan is 35 with a lawncare service, a wife, kids and a trailer with a broken roof.

Gus’s kids and their spouses and kids are now under Gus’s roof sharing resources.  Jesse’s mom, sister and cousin have assembled at his home to do the same.  Mac couldn’t see a future, so he left for Georgia.  Juan is busy making money with his chainsaw and new fuel delivery service in lieu of lawncare customers, which is good because Juan is now covering the missing paycheck for his sister-in-law and her husband who just lost their work.   This is the reality for people putting one foot in front of the other.

For a few moments today the elephant looked bigger, but immediately I noticed more people are biting it now.

I hope that civic and community leaders, elected or installed, will pause – look around- and cherish what they are seeing in We The People.

Those officials need to commit to be better stewards and work to deserve their role in whatever capacity they hold.  The working middle-class are the backbone of every community – and this nation is full of grit and determination.

Love to all.  Steadfast,

Sundance

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hMmoOWuqHi4%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Oct 2 2022

Profits Over People, Florida Governor DeSantis Calls Out Lee County Electric Cooperative for Intentionally Delaying Power Restoration, Here is the Backstory


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 1, 2022 | Sundance

October 1, 2022 | Sundance | 64 Comments

The Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) provides power utility coverage to approximately 200,000 homes in Sanibel, Cape Coral and Pine Island: three of the hardest hit western zone regions in the Hurricane Ian disaster.  Hundreds of people have asked me in my extensive travels why there are zero power trucks visible in Cape Coral working on the power grid, downed power lines and broken infrastructure.  Now, it looks like we have the answer.

What LCEC is intentionally doing is jaw-dropping.  In all my years of hurricane recovery, there has never –NEVER– been a more crystal-clear example of a decision to put profits over people.  LCEC is literally taking advantage of tens of thousands of vulnerable residents. Tonight, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is calling them out [LINK].  I will explain what is happening, but first check out the DeSantis message:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, after receiving a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center on current efforts to restore power in Southwest Florida, Governor DeSantis called on the Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) to accept additional mutual aid to expedite power restoration to the residents of Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Sanibel and Pine Island.

At this time, Florida Power and Light (FPL) has restored power to more than 45% of their accounts in Lee County, while LCEC has only restored power to 9% of their accounts (18,000 out of 183,000 customers). To assist in restoration efforts, the Florida Electrical Cooperatives Association has readied resources from its members around the state that are available to deploy on mutual aid.

Mutual aid would allow the LCEC to expedite power restoration, especially to Cape Coral and North Fort Myers as residents return to their homes and begin the road to recovery. Power restoration in these areas is also essential to resume the full use of essential services such as health care facilities, operation of schools and ensure access to running water. (link)

Please share this part far and wide.  You know me to call the baby ugly when warranted; this is one such time. People in the impact zone need to know what is happening.

The Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) purchases energy from Florida Power and Light (FP&L).  LCEC then passes along the energy cost to the Sanibel, Cape Coral and Pine Island residents in the form of traditional electricity billing.

Most of the energy provided by FP&L to southwest Florida comes from natural gas used to generate electricity.  Natural gas prices have skyrocketed.  Because natural gas has spiked in price so quickly; and because there is a natural lag in billing customers before payment is due; LCEC was temporarily billing people less than the current cost of the energy they were purchasing from FP&L.

The price billed to LCEC customers was short-term lower than the price LCEC was paying for the energy.  This resulted in a tens of million-dollar losses for LCEC. [NOTE: this is what is happening in Europe and why the EU central bank is subsidizing free short-term bridge loans to smaller electricity providers]

Rather than add another surcharge to the LCEC customers to make up the difference, LCEC is now using Hurricane Ian as an opportunity to true-up their costs and balance the deficit.

As long as zero electricity is being purchased from FP&L; and as long as customers pay their electricity bills by October 9th (due date), LCEC will have a substantive period of time where their receipts (from customers) exceed their purchases (from FP&L).   With inbound income and no outbound expenses, the previous financial deficit is removed.

How does LCEC stop purchasing energy?….  Simple, they just don’t rebuild the power grind, thereby delaying the need for payments to FP&L.

This is why there is almost ZERO effort to restore power in Cape Coral, Pine Island and North Fort Myers and mutual aid providers asking why?

LCEC leadership will likely try to hide behind plausible deniability due to the severity of the damage combined with their “non-profit” status.  But make no mistake, we are five days post event and LCEC is not even removing downed power poles and power lines.  The mutual aid utility companies are standing there wondering why LCEC is not asking for help.  The slow pace is akin to doing almost nothing.

This is a top-level decision by LCEC leadership to put operational profit over the urgent power restoration need of their customers.  I guarantee you Florida Governor Ron DeSantis knows exactly what LCEC is doing, and why LCEC is doing it.  Unfortunately, DeSantis is being politically diplomatic in sending a shot across their bow rather than directly explain to people what the true motive is behind LCEC’s decision.

Those of you I have met in recent recovery efforts, there’s the answer to your question.  LCEC is not making any effort to restore power because LCEC doesn’t want to restore power; at least not yet.  A few opportunistic weeks without having to purchase energy covers the prior financial deficit.  Yes, Hurricane Ian has provided them an opportunity to recover previous financial losses.

Angry?  You bet I’m angry.  Now imagine if 200,000 people found out what is really going on.

This is the single most egregious example of putting profits over people in all my years of Hurricane recovery and relief.   LCEC is literally blocking recovery efforts because there is a financial reason not to recover.  Meanwhile, thousands of people are suffering, businesses are closed and losing money. Worse still food, fuel, healthcare services and water recovery (so much more) are being blocked by this LCEC decision.

Ron DeSantis was far too kind in his approach…. screw the donations and politics of Big Energy.  Put Attorney General Ashley Moody on it now or use the power of the Florida Governor’s Office to take control over the utility provider.

Do not give Charlie Crist this opening.  Go full wolverine, now.

That said, let’s watch and see how LCEC responds to the forceful nudge.

Oct 1 2022

Hurricane Ian Hits South Carolina


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 30, 2022 | Menagerie

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NORQXOrNMcA%3Ffeature%3Doembed

For all our South Carolina Treepers, our prayers are with you. We hope all in the path of Ian are able to weather the storm well and safely. As you are able, check in and let us all know you guys are okay.

According to ABC news, Ian made landfall just after 2 p.m. today as a Cat 1 hurricane with winds at 85 mph.

Sep 30 2022

Hello from Florida & Fake News


Armstrong Economics Blog/Opinion Re-Posted Sep 29, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Thank you for all the emails of concern. I am fine. My dog is fine. Never lost power and nothing damaged. All of the newscasters go to the worst possible spots they can find and just stay there showing the very same backdrop all the time. The problem with such sensational broadcasting is that the vast majority of people no longer trust the media so when they play up a storm, so many people no longer trust the forecasting and do not evacuate.

This was Anderson Cooper standing in waist deep water while the camera crew was on high ground from 10 years ago. This is standard. I see the same reporter standing in the same spot on FOX with boats piled up. They never move from the most dramatic spots so you never see the whole region. It is no longer about reporting news. It is also about drama.

The people in South-West Florida were hard hit. By Tampa, the wind blew the water out of the bay, when it came back, it was just normal. No 10 ft wall of rushing water.

I really wish all the news channels returned to reporting the news instead of you will die in 3 hours so tune in so we can tell you the minute you will die so you can make your last phone call.

It has gotten to the point that you just do not know what to believe any more. That is causing people to lose their lives because they perhaps really should have evacuated, but did not because the last time the news dramatized the event then nothing happened.

I suffered no flooding, no power outage. From about Tampa northward on the West Coast, we were generally untouched. My cousin moved down here from New York, and he too was perfectly fine and never lost power.

Where Ian made landfall, that is the place people were hard hit. Inland, low lying levels were flooded because of the heavy rain. It would be nice if ALL the news channels realize that they have a responsibility to report a balanced view, not fixed on one spot that is the worst possible place to dramatize the news to get viewers. That is what is costing lives – crying wolf as they say. Just report the truth. They are costing lives with this dramatization. The last one CNN reported there would be a huge 10 to 15 wave, that amounted to 1.5 feet. So you stop listening after a while.