Sebring residents still without power, struggle with flooding

SEBRING (FOX 13) - The process of restoring power to Highlands county is still underway as roughly 20,000 Duke Energy customers and approximately 1,800 Glades Electric customers are without electricity.

“This is the living room the babies sleep the air comes right through there,” said Highlands County resident Juan Rosario.

Rosario and his family, which includes three children all under 5 years old, have been without power since Hurricane Irma swept through Florida 10 days ago.

“Because of the heat we’ve had to keep the windows open so you can imagine all the mosquitos,” said Rosario.

He says Glades Electric told him it would be another 24 hours before his power pops back on. So, for now, his family is making due with an inflatable mattress and an open flame.

“You have to work to get a fire going and you know that this fire right her is about to feed your family,” he said.

Duke Energy says they hope to have the remaining number of customers back online by midnight Wednesday morning.