Palm Coast residents frustrated, still in the dark

Patience are wearing thin in parts Flagler County.  The hum of generators is becoming part of the ambiance along Pitt Lane in Palm Coast. 

“It’s frustrating. I just need them to get the power on, please!” said Fred Anderson. 

He lost power on Friday morning just as the outer bands of Hurricane Matthew were reaching Flagler County. 

In the midst of strong wind and heavy downpour Anderson and David Bellish went outside to get their generator cranking the second the power went out.  They never thought they’d rely on it for this long.  By Monday night, the men were feeling helpless, not knowing when they’d get their power back. 

“Now, they’re saying tomorrow. They kept saying Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday, now Tuesday,” said Anderson.

These guys say their generator has run through at least 30 gallons of gas over the last three and a half days. 

“Actually, we had to siphon gas out of my truck because we ran out.  We have hundreds of dollars of food in my freezer, I don’t want to lose it.  I had to get a mouth full of gas.  Oh my god it takes forever to get out of your breath. It was nasty,” said Bellish.  

Their generator is powering a portable A/C unit, a few lights and two fridges. 

“We’ve got a bunch of pizza and DeRusso’s sausage, one of our long-time favorites, where we grew up in Ohio and this is gyro meat,” said Bellish. 

Sixty pounds of gyro meat to be exact.  And the guys are particularly protective of these treasures that they’ve been toting back home their hometown in Ohio. 

“Especially the pizza, this is like a super good commodity. We don’t want to lose that for sure,” said Bellish.

Next door, Jim Brannigan doesn’t have a generator. 

“This is my whole refrigerator,” said Brannigan as he pulled up a trash bag full of food.  He spent five hours cleaning up debris so he could mow his lawn.  All he says he wants, “a shower, a hot shower,” said Brannigan.  

Lucky for Brannigan, his neighbors have lots of food and they invited him over for dinner.