Amid hot weather, several families in Southwest Miami-Dade have been forced to live without power for more than two weeks after a rat chewed a power line. NBC6’s Christian Colón reports
Four families including children in West Perrine say they've been without power for more than two weeks, and they don't know when they'll get it back.
The affected homes are in the area of Southwest 112th Court and 172nd Street.
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WATCH HERE"This looks like something that would happen in Cuba, but it's happening to us here in the United States, and with an association for which I pay $450 every month without fail," Humberto Sotolongo told Telemundo 51 in Spanish on Tuesday.
He said the homeowner's association provided an explanation that the families are skeptical about: a rat was electrocuted after it bit into a central line.
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“All of a sudden the power got cut off and that's when the problems started. The four houses were left without power," Sotolongo said.
That was roughly 16 days ago, creating unbearable sleeping conditions. Some families have taken air mattresses and cushions to their front lawns.
"This is a gymnastics cushion that we had in the house and we had to take it outside because around midnight no one can bear being inside because of the heat," Reinaldo Garcia said. "These are houses are airtight."
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Sotolongo also said the food in his fridge has spoiled.
“The house smells horribly. You can't be inside because these houses are designed for the air conditioning to be working," Sotolongo said.
The residents said Florida Power and Light told them that the homeowner's association has to fix the problem.
"We recognize how challenging it is to be without power for an extended period of time and are aware of the situation involving four customers in Southwest Miami-Dade," FPL said in a statement. "We have been in constant contact with the homeowner’s association and communicated that it must hire a licensed electrician to repair their damaged customer owned electrical equipment. Once those repairs are made, FPL will restore power safely and as quickly as possible."
Two of the four families are staying elsewhere for now.
"This for us is almost normal now," Yanelis Sosa said on day 16. "It seems impossible, but it's the reality... I never imagined to be going through this in this country."
