Out-of-state bucket trucks and pickups lined Cambridge Avenue on Monday afternoon as workers continued restoring power to Lakeland Electric customers. “We’ve fixed broken poles, reinstalled poles, picked up wire,” said Daniel Landrie, a lineman with LineTec Services of Lafayette, La. “Made people happy, made some people mad because we’re blocking their streets, but that’s the norm.” More
Tuesday is shaping up to be a big day in Polk County. It’s the day that students are scheduled to report back to public schools throughout the county after they closed last Tuesday as Hurricane Ian approached, according to a news release. In addition, Lakeland Electric says power should be restored to all of its customers by Monday or Tuesday. More
Here are updates on where things stand in Lakeland in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Since many readers still don’t have Internet and are relying on spotty cell service, we are keeping it text-only and will share to all who have signed up for our email newsletters. More
While Southwest Florida took the punishing brunt of Hurricane Ian’s fury, Lakeland fared much better. There were no lives lost in Lakeland or Polk County, although wind gusts of at least 78 miles per hour blew down trees throughout the city and left about 63,000 people without electricity. A National Weather Service meteorologist in the agency’s Ruskin office said wind speeds could have been higher, but their automated station’s anemometer in Lakeland sustained damage during the storm. More
Following Hurricane Ian’s trek through Central Florida, LkldNow is following recovery efforts and the storm’s aftermath. We’ll update this page throughout the day. More
LkldNow posted updates about Hurricane Ian’s effects on Lakeland on this page all day on Wednesday, Sept. 28. We have a separate live blog for news about the storm’s aftermath and recovery efforts. Among the updates: Polk public schools and Polk State College have extended their closures to Friday. More
Marilyn and Dave Whiting, 81, decided to pack a few things, leave their home in the Schalamar retirement community off U.S. 92 and head to Tenoroc High School’s hurricane shelter Tuesday afternoon ahead of Hurricane Ian’s eye’s expected Thursday morning landfall. More
Polk County public schools will be closed on Thursday, as well as today and Wednesday, the school district announced today. As Hurricane Ian approaches, LkldNow is updating our lists of major closings, shelters and other services related to the storm. Please send updates to [email protected].More
An hour before midnight on Thursday, Sept. 1, Pat Oldenkamp, 75, looked out from her cottage apartment, located in the backyard of her ex-husband’s West Palm Drive home, and saw him puttering in his kitchen, still the tall, handsome, lanky man she had met years earlier when they were both flight attendants for Eastern Airlines. It was the last time she would see Glenn Leppert, 72, alive. More
As Hurricane Ian approaches Florida, Polk County government is opening 13 emergency shelters at public schools — five of them in Lakeland — starting at noon on Tuesday. In addition, separate shelters will open for people with special needs and people with pets. More
