PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Residents of Century Village in Pembroke Pines -- an elderly community with more than 11, 000 homes -- have been without power since Hurricane Irma hit.
And now, those in the neighborhood are desperate to get the lights back on.
"It is an over-55 community but most of our resident are well over 65, " Matt Uttal, a resident, said. "Many of them live on Social Security checks. They live hand to mouth. Many of them can’t afford to ride this out in a hotel or travel."
Isabell Diaz has no power and said the heat is starting to get to her.
"We need some power, we need some electricity. It has been too long and we are going crazy. The heat is too much," she said.
While power appears to be on all around them, they swelter in the heat.
"It’s very hot," a resident said. "I have fibromyalgia. I have osteoporosis. I have depression and anxiety."
When Hurricane Wilma hit in 2005 many buildings lost power for eight days.
They fear that could be the case with Irma.
"From Sunday we have no light. The water came today. It is bad, bad, bad, there are a lot of old people here," Marilyna Pena said.
Many in this community have special needs or medical conditions that required power.
"They can’t get down stairs. These are four story buildings. You are a 95-year-old woman living up on the fourth floor she can’t get down the stairs herself," Uttal said.
Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue takes the power outage serious enough that they sent rescue crews to do welfare checks on every apartment. While we don’t know when Florida Power and Light will restore power, residents have a single and strong plea: "FPL where are you? We need you!"
"That's all we can do," he said.
