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Relief in sight for steamed residents

The decades-old power lines at Southern Comfort mobile home park were worn and are being replaced.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY, Times Staff Writer
Published September 26, 2007

An extension cord runs from one unit that has electricity to one that doesn't in the Southern Comfort mobile home park in Clearwater.
	[JIM DAMASKE | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [JIM DAMASKE | Times] Reese Electrical workers dig up old wires and replace them Tuesday. "The system was so old there wasn't much to repair," Tom Reese said.

CLEARWATER - Progress Energy officials said they repeatedly offered to take over maintenance of the underground power lines at Southern Comfort mobile home park but their proposals were rebuffed.

Progress Energy spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said the owners of the park - where a dozen homes have been without power for six days and counting - rejected their offers before the utility company could estimate the cost of the job.

One of the park's owners, Trent Goss, did not return a call seeking comment. But the park's general manager, Luther Moore, said Goss never received an offer from Progress Energy and would welcome one.

The park's management estimates it will spend about $20,000 to restore power to a dozen mobile homes that have been hot and dark since Thursday.

On Tuesday, a ditch appeared between two rows of homes at the park off U.S. 19. Workers from Reese Electrical dug the trench.

A few generators buzzed at the homes without power. Moore said he would reimburse those who rented a generator.

The electrical company's president, Tom Reese, said in an emergency situation, he can typically fix the bad spot in a power line.

"In this case, the system was so old, there wasn't much to repair," Reese said.

Moore estimated the underground lines are about 40 years old.

The county has told the park's managers they must completely replace the lines in order to meet code. He said he hopes to have power on by tonight.

Since the power went out Thursday, Robert Brobeil, 62, said he has been sleeping on his front porch with the mosquitoes. "You can't sleep inside there," he said. "You'd just go nuts."

At 4 p.m., the thermometer inside his home read 110 degrees, he said. He has thrown out hundreds of dollars of food from his freezer and said he's sick of eating peanut butter and crackers.

Brobeil said he's called the county health department and code enforcement office but both said they couldn't help. There's no word from the park's office either, he said.

"That office hasn't been opened since this thing happened," Brobeil said. "I'm sure they're not sitting in a sauna."

The park's underground power lines are privately owned by the park's owners, Jacobs said.

If Progress Energy owned the lines, the company would keep extensive records on the underground lines and their maintenance, she said.

The company has equipment that can be used above ground to detect any problem areas in the lines, but once the isolated area is discovered, it has to be dug up to be repaired, Jacobs said.

The lines can last for years, but the average life span is 20 years, she said.

The mobile home park has eight outstanding violations issued by the county building department. Most of them are against individual residents within the park of 176 lots, said county spokeswoman Mary Burrell.

The only violation against the park's owners is for work on the pool's bathhouse roof without a permit, according to county records.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Tamara El-Khoury can be reached at tel-khoury@sptimes.com or 727 445-4181.

By the numbers
 

6 days without power

12 mobile homes at Southern Comfort mobile home park

110 temperature Robert Brobeil reported inside his home

40 age, in years, of the faulty power lines

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 21:05:44]