Hurricane Ian leaves some NJ residents stuck in Florida as local utility workers head south

There are some New Jersey residents who are stranded in Florida following Hurricane Ian.

News 12 Staff

Sep 29, 2022, 8:51 PM

Updated 814 days ago

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There are some New Jersey residents who are stranded in Florida following Hurricane Ian.
News 12 New Jersey spoke with one Middlesex County family who is stuck near the Walt Disney World resort. Rita Haberthur says she and her family are OK and that the area they were in did not get the brunt of the storm. But she says there are some questions as to how the family will get home.
“What are we going to do? How long are we going to be here?” she asks.
The Monroe resident got down to Disney's Port Orleans Riverside resort with her family before Hurricane Ian barreled in. As much destruction as it has caused in other parts Florida, Haberthur says she and her family have been unscathed.
“We felt pretty safe here. There’s a river here, as you can see, we’re riverside. So, I was kind of concerned about that, you know? Is water going to rise up?” Haberthur says.
Haberthur took a video of the check-in line at her hotel. The line stretched toward the back of the room. Visitors were dressed in soaked ponchos. And while they got in, they're worried about how they'll get out.
"We're anticipating flight cancellations and sort of making backup plans. We have a plan A, plan B, C and D,” Haberthur says.
Meanwhile, PSE&G is joining an already massive contingent of utility workers from around the country heading down to Florida to help.
"We have 48 contractor employees that we sent down to help Florida Power and Light, along with the surrounding areas with the mutual aid efforts,” says Paul Toscarelli, a senior official at PSE&G. “We also are looking to assemble about 65 of our own internal resources and offer them up as well to whatever utility might need them."
As for the Haberthur family, they say their flight home is on time and on schedule, but things can change quickly in situations like this.