Power Restored For Hurricane Victim After 15 Years
Feb 17, 2007 11:58 am US/Eastern Power Restored For Hurricane Victim After 15 Years (CBS) CULTLER BAY, Fla. An elderly woman who had been living without power in her home due to hurricane damage was finally seeing the light Friday night when power to her home was restored. What makes her story amazing is that the hurricane which put her in the dark was Andrew, which hit Florida almost 15 years ago; she's been living without power to her house since Aug. 24, 1992. She had no heat when a winter chill settled over South Florida. There was no air conditioning when the mercury climbed into the 90's and the humidity clung to 100%. Norena, who didn't want her full name used because she is embarrassed by her situation, has not had one hot shower at home in nearly 15 years. Every morning started with an icy blast. "I think it's like everything: you learn how to step into it and wait, and when you feel it, you take your quick shower," she recalled. Like many victims of Hurricane Andrew, Norena had a problem with an unscrupulous contractor and when the money from the insurance settlement ran out the contractor did too. He left her home half-repaired and not up to code which meant it would not have the electricity connected. Norena didn't have the money to complete the work and she didn't have any place else to go. "It just never got done and the money was gone so I couldn't do a lot of things to allow me, with Dade County, to get my power back on," she said. So she lived with it. She celebrated the new millennium with one tiny lamp and a single burner. On the 10th anniversary of Andrew in 2002, as her neighbors celebrated their recovery she was still living in the disaster. Electrical contractor Kent Crook was amazed when he saw how she managed to get a tiny amount of electricity into the house for a Spartan existence. "She has extension cords running into her house plugged into a tiny little refrigerator and a cook top and a lamp or two in front of her house," he marveled. Somehow, her situation fell through the cracks. Her neighbors never noticed her near-pioneer lifestyle and County code inspectors never caught the violations which prevented her from connecting up the power. A tip got the city and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez involved and a visit from Crook's company. A few hours of work and an inspection was all it took to get the power flowing again to her home. When darkness fell Friday night she no longer had to huddle in a single, dimly lit room. Something as simple as getting light by flicking a wall switch -- something most people do a dozen times a day without thinking -- almost overwhelmed Norena. "It's hard to describe having it come on... it's overwhelming," she said. Now her house is flooded with light and hot water is flowing through the pipes for the first time since that terrible night in Aug. 1992, when the wind shook her home to its foundation and set her life on end. Her plan is to let the water get hot -- really hot -- and then take her first bubble bath in her own bathtub in a decade and a half. Though the power is back on and Norena is again living in the 21st century, many problems remain. Her home still needs repair and her overgrown yard is a danger in future hurricanes. Volunteers say they'll be back to help clean up the yard and assist with repairs but for now Norena is happy for one thing. She can say "let there be light," and there will be. http://cbs3.com/topstories/topstories_story_048105125.html