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Inside look at complexity of power restoration

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While some 80 percent of FPL customers now have the air conditioning back on, that offers little relief for the tens of thousands of customers still waiting.

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WPTV continues to hear from residents wanting to know where the trucks are and what’s taking so long.

We found some of the obstacles crews face after visiting a location near 52nd Place in suburban Lake Worth.

 

Tucked away, down a long driveway, hardly visible from the road, there was a downed power pole surrounded by swamp and thick vegetation.

"They've had to cut through numerous trees,” said FPL spokeswoman Alys Daly.

Crews will pick up limbs and trees by hand, but have a digger truck picking up heavy branches. The crews at this scene from Indiana have to do this for every single branch, one by one.  

Several hours later, they’re finally able clear the brush, revealing the downed pole.

"Once that's back up, about 94 homes will come back online,” Daly said.

Next, linemen from Michigan can attend the pole.  They need to chop the downed pole up, remove the soaking transformer, and then set up the new pole.  That process takes another two to three hours.

In all, it’s around an eight-hour project to get fixed.  And that is to get just one pole upright and energized.