South Miami Resident Coping With No Power For 9 Days

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Some South Miami property owners are still coping with a loss of power nine days after they lost it as a result of Hurricane Irma.

They had expected power to be turned on by Tuesday but fear it could take longer.

"It's awful," said Austin Jones, who lives in one neighborhood that still has no electricity on SW 55th Ave. at SW 74th St. "They even told us it might be two to three weeks from this point because a power line pole went down. We have not seen FPL trucks out here. We have just seen inspectors but no trucks."

Jones and his family left South Florida and then returned for the start of this school week.

"We don't know what is going to happen," he told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "This is day by day and my mom had to go to school because she had to teach and this is really hard."

Jones' neighbor's said the days have been difficult.

Theresa Ehrenstein, who has four children, said, "The heat is really bad. It's like sleeping in an attic up north in the summer. I have been sleeping on the marble so the cold comes in. I now people are doing what they can to help."

Mike Bellitti said, "It's been pretty brutal. The worst part is not being able to use my cellphone."

Power is also out in the area of SW 57th Ave. and SW 78th St.

Adrian Molina, who lives in a condominium, said, "You don't think about this. You really don't think about this, you know, not having power for this long. We have been staying with family members at their house but it is inconvenient and frustrating."

Nearby on Sunset Drive at SW 57th Ave., power was restored between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Monday at a number of businesses.

"We are very happy because we were very nervous and worried because 10 days without business for places like me it is a disaster and a catastrophe for me and my staff with no jobs and the money we are losing. It is very difficult with the bills coming due and you don't make money," George Farge, the owner of George's at Sunset and who has 40 employees, said. "We will now have do something special like throw a big party to make up for part of this."

Next door, at the Sports Grill, co-owner Christine Marques, said, "It's been terrible. We finally got power back at 6:30 a.m. I still don't have power back at my home with is nearby. It's been a long time. With Katrina and Wilma we lost power for five days and seven days respectively. We have been out of business 10 days. So that was a little longer and this was a huge inconvenience."

A spokesman for FPL told D'Oench that the company expects power to be restored in South Miami by the end of the day on Tuesday.