Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 4-16-21

Feature
Power Outage Lasts 45 Hours In East Tampa Neighborhood
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ANTHONY KNIGHT
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
All last week, meteorolo- gists had warned that the we- ekend would bring storms. But, no one was prepared for their electricity to be inte- rrupted in some cases, for se- veral hours.
Anthony Knight lives in the 3700 block of E North Bay Street. Knight said he and many of his neighbors were without electricity for 45 hours.
“We saw TECO emplo- yees working on a pole, then we heard a loud boom and the lights went out around 7 p.m., Saturday. Everyone was calling and getting diffe- rent times when the power would come back on.
“They (TECO) sent wor- kers out at least 3 times, and they all said they could fix it. Around 3 a.m., Sunday, they
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didn t take place, the next es- timated time was 2 p.m., Sunday. However, the power was not restored.
The next message from TECO was that the power would be restored by 6 a.m., Monday. It wasn’t.
Knight said around 2 p.m., Monday, he saw the trucks return to the neigh- borhood and the power was finally restored at 4 p.m., Monday.
But losing power is com- mon in the neighborhood. Knight and his wife, Maria, purchased their home in 2013.
Knight is a Type 1 diabe- tic and is required to take in- sulin every 4 hours. After the storms in 2014, he purchased a generator.
“I had to buy a generator because I have more than $3,000 in insulin that has to stay cold. Every year, we lose
power in this neighborhood. TECO needs to do better about getting the power on faster. It goes out over here when it’s just a summer storm,” Knight said.
Others said their power was interrupted, but was res- tored in less than an hour. In addition, the outage was wi- despread and sporadic. Some
streets had power while others remained in the dark. In addition to having to deal with power outage,
Knight said he spent about $160 buying gasoline to ope- rate the generator.
According to TECO’s website, thousands of people lost power this past weekend.
sent 4 large trucks out and one of them wanted to know why I had power and nobody elsedid.ItoldhimIhadage- nerator.”
Knight and others conti- nuing to call and were told the power should be restored by 6 a.m., Sunday. When that
Jalsena And Rodrick Hixon Wedding
Jalsena and Rodrick Hixon, center, were married recently at the Hilton Hotel on Lois Ave. They are shown with members of their wedding party. Sharlene Curry, flower girl; Charles Little, ringbearer; Cindi Baylor, Lori Vennett, Gloria Thomp- son, Winnie Waters, Maid of Honor; Fred Stokes, Best Man; Larry Rhynes and Gerry Boats. (Photograph by Julia Jackson)
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY PAGE 11-A