Power Play

"Bush -- apparently unaware of frustrating supply breakdowns just a few miles away -- assured South Florida that federal aid was coming."

The Miami Herald:

At a food-distribution center in Pompano Beach, the president hugged and consoled hurricane victims standing in line for barbecue served by volunteers from Tennessee. After posing for snapshots and signing autographs, Bush -- apparently unaware of frustrating supply breakdowns just a few miles away -- assured South Florida that federal aid was coming.

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Broward officials said they had received just half of the water, ice and ready-to-eat meals sought from state and federal coordinators -- 76 of 153 trucks requested. Late Thursday afternoon, Broward officials bought 50 truckloads of ice and water from suppliers as far away as Texas and Virginia.

From the Ft. Myers News-Journal:

A third of all homes darkened by Wilma across South Florida had power restored, FPL said, including Miami-Dade, where 357,800 out of 956,500 affected homes were back online. In Broward, 20 percent of the homes affected by the blackout had had service restored. About the same percentage was reported in Palm Beach County.

Geisha Williams, the FPL vice president in charge of the restoration, said she thought “a great majority” of darkened homes would be back within two weeks. The utility predicts that 95 percent of darkened homes will be fixed by Nov. 15 and that all Broward and Miami-Dade homes should be back by Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving.

And, from the St. Petersburg Times

Even as power was restored to some, thousands of others remain in high-rises with no working elevators. "It is widespread," said Pompano Beach Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Brian Schafer.

Many of them are elderly and cannot easily get food and water, he said. Some also rely on electric wheelchairs and scooters with batteries that are running out.

Utility workers are concentrating on areas with high-rises, Schafer said. "It becomes more critical as time goes on."

Many high-rises, like the 29-story Pompano Beach Club, have working generators to keep an elevator going, but without power they have no way to pump water to their upper floors. City water pressure only gets it so far.