PALM BAY, Fla. – Nearly a week after Hurricane Irma, for some still without power and water, hope is starting to sound faint underneath the noise of their generators.
"The six days that we've gone without power, unbelievably disturbing, because you just can't do anything," southeast Palm Bay resident Brooke Pestano told News 6 Friday.
Pestano and her English bulldog Finny were among the 70,000 customers Friday sweltering as crews from Florida Power & Light and linemen from out-of-state continue to work 16-hour shifts.
"We are working day and night. Thank you for your patience," FPL vice president Robert Gould said Friday afternoon during a news conference in Melbourne.
Gould said 20,000 restoration workers are in Florida helping to restore power. Those workers represent 30 states and also Canada.
Pestano told News 6 she doesn't want to sound like a complainer. Other people in the county lost everything.
"But then I got an update this morning at about 7 o'clock that your power has been restored and I looked everywhere and there was legitimately, no power," she said.
FPL apologized to customers given misinformation.
Gould on Friday blamed a statewide volume of outages, more immense than anything FPL's worked before.
When asked by News 6 how customers could be wrongly told their power was restored, Gould answered, "It's a frustration that we have heard and we are keenly aware of it. We apologize. That is not our intent."
Pestano called the mistake unacceptable.
"Not when it's power. How your home and your family functions, power isn't something that you can mess around with," she said.
FPL estimated between 1,200 and 1,500 poles came down because of Irma. The company said that number is several thousands of poles fewer than what fell during Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
FPL credited the $3 billion it's spent since the 2005 hurricane season on installing stronger, storm-resistant poles.