Residents of a Hialeah apartment complex say the last several days have been miserable since they were left without power following a fire in the electrical room.
The residents at 1255 W 49th Place say the power outage has affected 30 units. Several have left to try to escape the heat somewhere else, but those who don’t have another place to go said staying there is a nightmare.
“It’s impossible. It feels like you’re going through misery in Cuba,” neighbor Diannet told our sister station Telemundo 51 in Spanish as she fanned herself and her daughter with a sheet of paper. “No one’s come here, absolutely nobody. Nobody knocks on your door, nobody asks you [how you are], nobody tells you when this’ll end. Nobody. We’re just here, adrift. We don’t know what we’re going to do.”
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She and other families said it all started on Thursday, when a fire at around 5 a.m. burned in the electrical room.
"FPL came quickly. They cut the electricity to the apartments, but that’s it. They don’t do anything because… it’s the responsibility of the condominium,” Bernardo, an affected resident, said. “I bought a generator so at least my refrigerator would work and a little fan because the heat isn’t easy.”
Diannet said her family has also fired up a generator, but even then, it can’t be on the whole day.
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“Who will pay for the gas to have the generator running out there? Who will pay for the food that’s spoiled? Where is the help? We’re in the United States, the best country in the world, and this is inhumane,” she said.
Diannet worries about her daughter, who has asthma, in the sweltering heat.
Another resident said her child can’t sleep.
“I have a 10-year-old son who can’t sleep either. He’s going to school, we’re all working, my husband and I. It’s very hard,” she said.
The condo’s association said it is working with a private company to make the repairs in the electrical room. On Monday, fliers were posted on the door of the apartments that say the damages are severe.
Residents said that crews are working hard to repair the damaged wires, but there’s no exact date for when Florida Power & Light might be able to safely turn the power back on.
Off camera, the president of the association said they were working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.
“They’re working hard, they’re making the effort. But they say it’ll be between 15 and 20 days,” resident María Nuñez said. She said she had to leave her apartment because she couldn’t handle the sweltering temperatures.
The city of Hialeah said in a statement that it is only responsible for providing companies like FPL with the necessary permits to carry out their work, but is not directly involved with providing electrical power.
