Generators and Power Outages: How 43 Polk County ALFs Report Emergency Power

Polk's hurricane problem is power, not water

Polk County is one of the few large Florida counties with no coastline, so storm surge, the main killer in coastal hurricanes, is not its threat. Wind, inland flooding near lakes and rivers, and above all long power outages are. For an older adult, several days without air conditioning in late summer can be dangerous, especially with heart or lung disease or medications that affect heat tolerance.

That makes emergency power the most important storm question to ask an assisted living facility here, ahead of evacuation routes.

What Florida requires

Since 2018, Florida rules have required every nursing home and assisted living facility to keep an emergency power plan that maintains safe indoor temperatures for at least 96 hours after a power outage. The rule does not require every facility to own a permanent generator; plans can rely on portable equipment, contracted generators or other arrangements, and smaller homes often use those.

AHCA's facility profiles report each ALF's onsite alternate power source, including whether it has a fixed generator. That field is the starting point, and the facility's written plan is the detail.

How Polk facilities report

Source: AHCA facility profiles, emergency power data, retrieved November 6, 2026. Larger facilities without a reported fixed generator: Lake Gibson Village (165 beds), Best Care Senior Living at Cypress Gardens LLC (82 beds), New Era (60 beds), Savannah Villages of Lakeland (55 beds), The Club at Lake Wales (52 beds), Pompano House South Operation LLC (50 beds), Aus Senior Living at Bartow, LLC (36 beds), Wedgewood of Winter Haven Inc (18 beds).

Questions that get beyond the checkbox

A fixed generator may power only life-safety systems and part of the building. Ask what it runs: the whole air-conditioning system, one cooled common area, refrigeration for medications, oxygen concentrators, the elevator. Ask how many hours of fuel are on site and what the refueling contract says, because a long outage can outlast the first tank.

If the facility has no fixed generator, ask to read the emergency power plan and how it keeps residents at a safe temperature for four days. Ask whether residents would be moved to a cooled area or to another building, and how families are told. A good administrator will have answered these questions before, and will not mind answering them again.

Generators are only part of storm readiness

Power is the headline question, but a facility's emergency plan covers more: water and food for residents and staff, medication supply, staffing when employees cannot reach the building, communication with families, and the decision to shelter in place or evacuate. Ask to see how the last storm was handled. Did the facility shelter in place or move residents, how long was the power out, and how were families kept informed? An administrator who can walk you through a real event, including what went wrong and what they changed, gives you more confidence than a binder on a shelf. The same questions apply to nursing homes, which are held to the same 96-hour temperature requirement under their own rules. If your parent uses oxygen, a powered bed or a lift chair, ask specifically how that equipment keeps running during an outage and who checks on it overnight.

For a parent still living at home

Older adults who live alone in Polk County face the same outage risk without a plan written by someone else. Before June 1, keep two weeks of medications, plan how refrigerated medicines will stay cold, and think through oxygen and medical equipment that needs power. Residents who depend on electricity or need help in an emergency can register with Polk County Emergency Management's special needs program, which helps with sheltering and assistance.

Mobile and manufactured homes, common in Polk's 55-plus parks, are not safe places to ride out hurricane-force wind. Families should know in advance where a parent in a manufactured home will go, and a short respite stay in an ALF with a fixed generator, booked early in the season, is one option.