Local and out of town heroes come to the aid of those affected by Hurricane Ian- saving lives by not being bogged down by incompetance during the worst disaster to hit SW Florida!
Sabotage or just incompetence… both are dangerous!
During times of natural disasters, and other emergency situations it is so easy to inflict sabotage under the cover of the infliction. This is how those with not so ethical motives operate naturally. We watch it happen at every crisis. While those who are diligent to help others are busy rescuing, restoring, and rebuilding… there is another breed of human who is busy stealing, fueling the destruction, and sabotaging restoration. And during man made disasters, there is a sabotage plan in place just like there is an emergency plan in place. Both get implemented and the sabotagers use the disaster and all of its’ dangers and destruction as their cover to move slowly or not at all… we are seeing this take place in S.W. Florida as the people are into their two weeks of rescue and recovery. It is very obvious now that there are many in positions of authority that need to be replaced. Governor DeSantis and his emergency response team have definitely shined a spotlight on these ones and they are being exposed one by one.
LCEC an electrical cooperative for the Cape Coral area is one such company that has had the spotlight on them and regardless of their words of “We are responding as fast as we can, bla, bla, bla…” they have failed to allow the teams of linemen to go into areas and help restore power. It was reported by many that lineman trucks have sat in front of areas that need restoration for days waiting for permission from LCEC to work on powerlines. Eye witnesses have talked to the men on the trucks sent in by Governor DeSantis to help restore power, and were told they were waiting for LCEC to give them permission which wasn’t being given. That is sabotage. After two weeks, in most peoples assessment of emergency response, it is no longer incompetance.
So, while many are yelling… “be happy you still have a home and your lives”, others are calling a spade, a spade. There is no excuse for having line repairmen sitting for days and days waiting for an okay from a negligent and understaffed power company to say… you can now go in and restore power. Especially when the state has flipped the bill!
Other power companies in the Cape were happy to have the help of those who came from other states. One person posted on social media, “For the last 2 nights we have had the honor of feeding these hardworking linemen from Minnesota. They have been down on Ft. Myers beach working hard to get us back up and running! They have brought us some sense of normalcy in this calm after the storm, we look forward to serving them again! Special thanks to all of our regulars who on both nights went out of their way to thank them as well by buying their first rounds of drinks! #floridastrong“
What if Governor DeSantis had not shown up with his team of military, coast guard, and multi-thousands of power and water line repair teams? There would have been no temporary bridge built from Cape Coral to Pine Island, and no one repairing a temporary fix to the causeways that connect to Islands like Sanibel. Talk was to reassess the Islands as not feasible to rebuild on and get the people off and tell them to say goodby to Island life. DeSantis stepped up and said these are islanders and this is their HOME! FIX IT! And they built a temp bridge in 3 days. They searched the rubble and found many bodies, and rescued many who were still alive. These would have been left for dead had Governor DeSantis not taken over with his teams. I can say that… because they were and that is what happened. The news will not report that. Local residents will tell you the same truth.
DeSantis has not left the area and is covering the counties affected. Here is his update from Charlotte County made yesterday.
That being said… here is a true story of the emergency response of how God works. A woman in Port Charlotte, has no 911 rescue crews available, contacts family in Texas who seeks help on a video game he plays, who then finds a person playing the online game, who takes action and drives from Orlando into the storm to rescue a woman he didn’t know for someone he had never met in person, when the trained teams were standing down. There are many thoughts on this situation… mine are God is always with those in need and with those he sends to do his will!
Local heroes save hundreds of lives while local emergency responders are told it’s not safe to go out. It was everyday people who first went to the islands to rescue people.
Local news is reporting while main stream fake news is on to Kanye West and his conspiracy Kardashian theories on how somebody done him wrong song.
Local news talks of price gouging and other areas of Florida under water… Lake Monroe crests and state of emergency called yesterday!
What you never heard on the main stream news… while the emergency response was not responding to island residents.
What the main stream news did not tell you is that the night Ian hit in the Cape Coral area…by 10:30 that night, the winds were calm and the storm had passed and residents were out helping other people. Council man Dan Shepherd and his son were out helping the people they knew were asking for help before they lost power. There were people out helping others… while the next day after telling on the news that Emergency Response Teams would be out at daybreak when winds were at 45 and below, the City Manager of Cape Coral did not do this. He, instead, had the emergency response and linemen crews stand down until he gave them permission… which didn’t come until the day DeSantis arrived on the 30th of September.
Meanwhile… the winds were calm by 10:00 p.m. the night of the storm and the waters were receding in some areas. By morning the sun was out and winds were fine. Funny how individuals could get out in the streets, but those who were trained to do so were not allowed to go, being told by Hernandez it was unsafe. These things need to be questioned and accounted for.
So when I heard the Cape Coral City Manager, Rob Hernandez, said it was too dangerous to send emergency responders out. I thought about this one and my mind went to 911 and the twin towers. What if the first responders were told to stand down until the towers fell and the debris cooled down before they tried to rescue someone because it was too dangerous to go in?
On local news the city manager said publicly that help would be sent out as soon as the winds died down…and at daybreak. That never happened. Who is asking him why?
The City Manager, Rob Hernandez went on the nightly news and talked of his Emergency Response plans, and said they were always preparing for the hurricane. They were prepared and Emergency Responders would be out to rescue families as soon as daybreak and or when the winds were at or below 45 m.p.h., and power would be addressed later.
At 10:00 that same night the winds were at 26 to 29 mph – according to the live Doppler radar charts that I was monitoring. These doppler charts showed winds throughout the day up to that moment. According to on the ground gov. sources, Hernandez did not let first responders out to do rescues the next day.
Let me say now, our firemen, police officers and all first responders go into harms way with every emergency they face. We are thankful that they risk their lives to save others and they are our God send in emergencies. Firemen go into burning homes to search for people who are trapped or injured. Under the mindset of those like the CC City Manager, we must ask…are firemen now to let the house burn down first, then search for survivors when it’s safe? Just saying when I hear stories like I am during Hurricane Ian, it makes me realize we are on our own.
What they aren’t talking about is that the City Manager had closed all emergency response down the day before Ian hit, and council person Jennifer Nelson posted on social media this fact, along with 311 calls are not being taken and all people are now to shelter in place while the Public Information Office figures out what to do at four way traffic stops when signals lose power.
Cape Coural Council woman Nelson was going to message the people what they were going to do with that, after they figured it out. Of course… streets were flooded and people were without cell phone service and power… so they never got her message on what they decided. Fortunately, most people already knew to make it a four way stop, as that is a question one must know to obtain their driver’s license.
You can’t make this type of “stupid” up. When people are trapped in their homes, it would have been nice to know what to expect the next day and to be reminded of things like – shut off your circuit breakers when your power goes out and a few more emergency precautions. One thing is certain, there needs to be a deep dive into the City Manager and his emergency preparedness plans that he had in place before the storm hit. And ask questions like why did he not send out first responders searching homes before DeSantis arrived?
You won’t hear many of the real stories on Fake News that are in the local news stories. Things like how people were out doing rescues during the storm and the morning after, as the sun was shining. My contacts told the weather conditions and they were able to maneuver the roads to help others and local videos show that was correct. Some areas were not passable…others were. So common sense says start where you can help and begin helping there first. Don’t stand down until the last road is cleared.
The rescues that were being done at daybreak were those performed by the private sector and volunteer rescue teams.
DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOTING!
You can’t force people to leave their homes, says Sheriff of Lee County. Looters will be carried out. While the Sheriff of Polk County gives owners permission to shoot up looters like grated cheese! So don’t even try it!
Later, Miami Dade Rescue teams went into action when DeSantis got there.
Meanwhile Govenor DeSantis emergency officials came in like knights on white horses and helped the people rescue others, restore power, and provided food, supplies and extra shelter, along with state money as FEMA is slow… and many people are saying FEMA isn’t giving them the assistance they were told that they would. Someone needs to alert Governor DeSantis about that. But, maybe he already knows how they do and that is why he is there 24.7!
Keep on pressing into the Kingdom of God! Press, press, press!
Dianne
