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Storm weary residents in Immokalee feel neglected

Posted at 12:11 AM, Sep 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-13 00:11:34-04

Hurricane Irma may have not made landfall until Sunday, but residents in Immokalee began feeling the effects on Thursday.

"A lot of rain, a lot of wind," said longtime resident Fred Thomas.

Many homes have been without power since Thursday, when the outer bands of Irma began lashing this small agricultural town 40 miles east of Naples.

"The people that come down, a lot of them were devastated, a lot of trees falling on homes," said Edward Olesky, who's store at Lake Trafford is one of the few still open in town.

The town is reeling from downed powerlines, uprooted trees and in some cases damaged homes.

"I was expecting this tree to be on top of the house, this one or this one, as you can see I have another tree that fell in the back by my dog house," said Eric Estrada.

Cell service and power are rare, and ice, gas and food are extremely hard to find.

"When you find a place that has food or gas there is a two hour wait in line," said Thomas.