Gail & Phil – Naples Park, Florida

February 1, 2023 Florida, Solar & Storms

The panels are still working as well as before the storm.

Gail & Phil – Naples Park, FL

FL Southwest Florida 2020 Solar Co-op

System size: 10.78kW

How did your solar hold up in a hurricane?

We live in Naples Park, in Collier County, Florida. We were at home when Ian struck on September 28. The warnings were for areas north of us, so we stayed at home, along with most of our neighbors. As the water started rising in our backyard, coming into the house, we hurried our three cats into their carrying cases, put Fred the cockatoo into his travel cage and piled all four into our new RAV4 Prime Plug-in Hybrid. My husband lifted up the garage door, only to be pushed further into the garage by the raging water. We quickly took the cats and cockatoo and placed them on the highest shelf in a closet. We then looked for something to float them on, if the water rose high enough. Furniture was floating around the house. The water stopped rising at about 3.5 feet. It remained in the house for about half an hour or so (time had little meaning at that point). It then receded as quickly as it came in. We tried to start the car, but it had caught fire on the driver’s door and seat. Thank heavens it was wet and stopped there.

Longer story short, we were able to stay at the house next door (it was up much higher) for a week to get things sorted in our home. We are now in a long term rental until the house is brought back to standards.

The solar panels were a question for about 10 days. Once we got electric power back to the house I had to get WIFI going. That was easier than I thought. Lo and behold! The panels are still working as well as before the storm.