(WSVN) - A South Florida man says a major hazard has been looming in his backyard since Hurricane Irma. 7’s Brian Entin has more in 7 Investigates.
Carlos loves to unwind and relax in his backyard.
Carlos Alvarez, dealing with damaged power pole: “I like to sit outside, look at the pool, get in the pool when I can.”
But Hurricane Irma did a lot of damage to his yard. All of his trees were knocked down and he was left without any privacy, so he decided to put up a fence.
There was one big problem — his neighbor’s power pole was leaning into his backyard.
Carlos Alvarez: “Safety issues. That pole could have come down. That pole was being held by a wire.”
Florida Power and Light put up a new pole after the storm and moved their wires. But they left the old pole in place because AT&T and Comcast still had their wires attached to it.
Carlos Alvarez (on phone): “I’m calling you back in reference to the pole in the back.”
Carlos says he called AT&T and Comcast for months, but the pole and wires continued to hang over his backyard.
Carlos Alvarez: “They said, ‘We’ll submit it to our main office. We’ll get a hold of you.’ Still waiting.”
When 7News reached out to Comcast, a company spokesperson told us, “Following Hurricane Irma, our crews were able to successfully repair, bury and rehang more than 50,000 lines. Unfortunately, there are some instances where crews did not complete the line work in a timely manner, and for that we sincerely apologize.”
Carlos Alvarez: “Phone calls after phone calls after phone calls — everybody is pointing the finger at each other.”
But after our calls to Comcast and AT&T, utility trucks for both companies showed up.
AT&T says their crews went out as soon as they were notified about the issue and transferred their equipment to the new pole.
7News was there as crews moved the wires.
Carlos Alvarez: “All of a sudden, when you guys call, it’s a priority. It has been a priority since day one — for me it was.”
Carlos’ priority now is to get his fence up, so he can enjoy his backyard again.
Carlos Alvarez: “I can enjoy my pool. The summer is now coming up. Probably a party here and there.”
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