Hurricane Irma damaged 90% of homes in the Florida Keys

With Hurricane Irma safely out of the state, most Floridians have returned home Tuesday, but a majority of those returning to the Florida Keys are coming back to devastating property damage.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says about 90 per cent of the Keys residents are coming home to property damage. That includes a heart breaking 25 per cent of homes that have been completely destroyed on the archipelago.

Another 65 per cent of homes have sustained at least some damage. Many residents in the Keys are finally getting a chance to survey the damage for the first time as they made their treks back to their homes Tuesday.

Irma first made landfall on Cudjoe Key, about 20 miles east from Key West, where homes were ripped open like doll houses. A similar sight befell Plantation Key and Sunshine Key. 

A local resident reacts on Tuesday as she sees the damage on her home after Hurricane Irma struck Florida, in Islamorada Key

Remnants of a mobile home destroyed by Hurricane Irma are scattered at Venture Out Condominium Community in Cudjoe Key, Fla 

A sailboat is pushed up between two buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West 

A destroyed home after Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys in Marathon. Many in the area remain under a dawn to dusk curfew

Cars line up to return to the Florida Keys on Tuesday in Homestead, Florida. Parts of the lower Keys are still inaccessible because a road was wiped out during the storm 

All along the Keys, boats rested next to homes, walls were ripped off houses, and interiors like toilets, sinks and personal items were strewn in the streets.

Meanwhile three quarters of the state is still without power. Electricity isn’t just a convenience in the Sunshine State. It’s a necessity in the summer when the heat can turn deadly hot. 

And that’s just what it’s forecast to do this week, with temperatures expected to reach into the 90s. 

The bad news is that an estimated 15million Floridians are still without power, and officials say it could take 10 days or more for it to be fully restored. 

For the most part though, life inched closer to normal in the Sunshine State, with some flights again taking off, many curfews lifted and major theme parks reopening. Cruise ships that extended their voyages and rode out the storm at sea began returning to port with thousands of passengers.

‘We’ve got a lot of work to do, but everybody’s going to come together,’ Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. ‘We’re going to get this state rebuilt. This state is a state of strong resilient people.’ 

Traffic is seen traveling south on Interstate 95 in Brunswick, Georgia on Tuesday after Hurricane Irma passed through the area

A police officer directs motorists at a checkpoint as Florida Keys residents return to their homes in the upper keys on Tuesday

More than half the state is still without power, meaning there won’t be air conditioning when the weather turns deadly hot this week 

Wednesday is also shaping up to be a scorcher across Florida, with temperatures nearing the 90s 

Despite lack of electricity, most Floridians were just happy they were finally able to return home on Tuesday, after several nights holed up in shelters or with friends and family.  

Carin and David Atkins of Pinecrest, Florida, were waiting out Irma on Monday, planning to leave their Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning to head back down the Florida peninsula with their children, Molly and Thomas. The Atkins said they have hotel reservations near Cape Canaveral, more than halfway back to their home outside Miami.

‘I’ve called to confirm they have power,’ David Atkins said, adding that some businesses near their home have power as well.

Carin Atkins said they can live without power at home for several days, recalling that they went 47 days without power after Hurricane Wilma in 2005. They evacuated, she said, only because of the threat of rising water from a storm surge that didn’t reach to their home.

Other evacuees still aren’t as sure of their return.

A woman suntans amongst debris on Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on Tuesday  after Hurricane Irma passed the area

A damaged house on Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida is pictured above on Tuesday 

A boy walks amongst debris on the beach after Hurricane Irma passed the area in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday

Local residents walk down a street that was flooded after the passing of Hurricane Irma in Immokalee, Florida on Tuesday

Boats, cars and other debris clog waterways in the Florida Keys on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma slammed into the state

Boats, cars and other debris clog waterways in the Florida Keys on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma slammed into the state

NA A man shops in a Naples, Florida supermarket on Tuesday, one of the few open, with limited electricity and food two days after Hurricane Irma swept through the area

 Floridians will have to make due with non-perishable food while millions are still without power

A submerged mobile home community stands in Fort Myers on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma swept through the area

A neighborhood remains flooded by Hurricane Irma on September 12, 2017 in Bonita Springs, Florida

Carolyn Cole removes belongings from her flooded home in Bonita Springs, Florida on Tuesday

Much of Cole’s home was still under water as she returned home on Tuesday to gather up her most prized possessions 

A boat is seen on a highway as local residents return to Plantation Key, Florida on Tuesday

Local residents walk along a destroyed trailer park in Plantation Key, Florida on Tuesday 

Palm trees appears to weather the storm rather well at the mobile home park in Plantation Key  

The entire Florida Keys were under mandatory evacuation during Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in the island chain on Sunday  

A destroyed trailer park is seen in Plantation Key, Florida on Tuesday after Hurricane Irma struck the island 

Bonita Springs, Florida is seen above in a Monday afternoon photo provided by DroneBase

Alfonso Jose pulls his son Alfonso Jr., 2, in a cooler with his wife Cristina Ventura as they wade through their flooded street in Bonita Springs, Florida on Tuesday  

Irma will continue to pelt parts of the south with rain on Tuesday 

HURRICANE IRMA CLAIMS 52 LIVES

U.S. – 14

FLORIDA

• Monroe County: A man died after losing control of his truck, which was carrying a generator, in heavy winds. 
• Hardee County: Joseph Ossman, 53,a sergeant with the Hardee Correctional Institute, was heading to work Sunday morning when he collided head on with the vehicle driven by Sheriff’s Deputy Julie Bridges, 42, who was heading home from a night shift.
• Orlando: Heidi Zehner, 50, was driving on a highway near Orlando Sunday night when she lost control of her SUV and hit a guardrail. 
• Winter Park: Brian Buwalda, 51, was electrocuted by a downed power line on Monday
• Tampa: Wilfredo Hernandez, 55, died when the chain saw he was using to clear trees in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma became entangled in a branch, causing it to kick up and cut his carotid artery.
• Miami-Dade County: A person died of carbon monoxide poisoning from using a generator the wrong way 

GEORGIA 

• Worth County: The body of a 62-year-old man who climbed a ladder behind his home was found under debris on the roof of his shed
• Sandy Springs:  A man in his 50, was killed just outside Atlanta when a tree fell on his house
• Forsyth County: Woman died when a tree fell on a vehicle in a private driveway

SOUTH CAROLINA 

• Abbeville County: Charles Saxon, 57, died when he was struck by a tree limb while clearing debris from his home in Calhoun Falls amid wind gusts of 40 mph 
• Columbia: City worker Arthur Strudwick, 48, a city worker, died Monday night when he drove his car off the road during heavy rains
• Columbia: Zhen Tain, 21, crashed his Ford Mustang while driving east of Columbia Monday afternoon. The vehicle hit another car and then flipped.  
• Sumter County: William McBride, 54, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while running a generator inside his mobile home with only a single window cracked for ventilation

 

Elsewhere in the Caribbean – 38

Anguilla – 1

Barbados – 1

Barbuda – 3

Cuba – 10 

French West Indies – 11

Haiti – 1

Puerto Rico – 3

St. Maarten – 4

U.S. Virgin Islands – 4   

 

 

 

Columbia, South Carolina city worker Arthur Strudwick, 48 (pictured), died Monday night when he drove his car off the road during heavy rains

Joseph Ossman, 53 (right), a sergeant with the Hardee Correctional Institute, was heading to work Sunday morning when he collided head on with the vehicle driven by Sheriff’s Deputy Julie Bridges, 42 (left), who was heading home from a night shift.

Stephanie Clegg Troxell was near Nashville, Tennessee, where her family caravan includes three cars and a trailer, five adults, five children, 13 dogs, three mini-horses and a pet pig. The trek from New Port Richey, Florida, north of Tampa Bay, took more than 17 hours, beginning last Wednesday.

Troxell said her husband stayed behind and now is working with friends to remove a tree that fell on the roof of their house. They also had no power.

‘We don’t know when we’re leaving and now there’s another hurricane coming,’ Troxell said, referring to Jose, which was offshore. ‘I’m trying to sneak out when it’s not 30 miles per hour-plus winds.’

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Rea Argonza was worried about money as she mapped out her return plans.

‘Staying here, it’s been like a financial strain,’ said Argonza, who traveled with her husband and five children from St. Augustine, Florida, to two hotel rooms 500 miles away near the Wake Forest University campus. ‘We’re up to almost a thousand dollars now. I do believe this whole expedition is going to be almost $3,000.’

One area still not accessible is the lower Florida Keys, where officials continue to carry out tests to make sure the bridges are safe to drive on.

That includes the most distant and populous island in the chain, Key West.

Scott said Tuesday that officials continue to check the 42 Overseas Highway bridges that link the Florida Keys together. He said none appear seriously damaged but that ‘we’re not sure that on the bridges we should be putting on significant weight.’ 

Angelina Ventura, left, and Jose Gonzalez retrieve belongings from their flooded home in the wake of Hurricane Irma in Bonita Springs, Florida on Tuesday 

In this Monday afternoon photo provided by DroneBase, an aerial view of Bonita Springs, Florida, is seen

Jose Lopez and Judy Madujano put their son Jose Jr, 1, into a splash pool as they retrieve belongings from their flooded home following Hurricane Irma in Bonita Springs, Florida on Tuesday

Jose Encarnacion pulls a chicken out from a cage as he retrieves belongings from his flooded home following Hurricane Irma in Bonita Springs, Florida on Tuesday

A ceiling in a home is collapsed after being struck by a falling tree on Tuesday in Signal Mountain, Tennessee

Eleanor Knauff plays with a butterfly net in front of a fallen tree in the yard of her Signal Mountain, Tennessee home on Tuesday

Sandra Guzman is pictured with her daughter Maria Valentine Romero in their mobile home which now has a tarp instead of a roof after the passing of Hurricane Irma in Immokalee, Florida on Tuesday

However, parts of the upper Keys, including Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada, are now accessible to returning residents who got their first glimpse of the damage on Tuesday morning – and what they saw was not good. 

While nearly all of Florida was engulfed by the 400-mile-wide storm, the Keys appeared to be the hardest hit. Drinking water was cut off, all three of the islands’ hospitals were closed, and the supply of gas was extremely limited. 

Officials are estimating that more than a quarter of the homes on the islands were destroyed. Additionally, 65 per cent of the buildings sustained major damage.

FEMA Administrator Brock Long says the Keys ‘took the brunt of the hit’ a and it will take time to survey the damage there before residents there can return.

‘Basically every house in the Keys was impacted,’ he said. 

In a news conference Tuesday, Long says of Monroe County: ‘A majority of the homes there have been impacted in some way’ with homes destroyed or damaged. 

An aircraft carrier was positioned off Key West to help in the search-and-rescue effort. And crews worked to repair two washed-out, 300-foot sections of U.S. 1, the lone highway from the mainland, and check the safety of the 42 bridges linking the islands.  

While the Keys are a popular vacation destination, there’s also a lot of poor people who live there. 

The string of tropical islands that stretch south from Florida, connected by bridges, are home to about 70,000 people, with about 13 percent living in poverty.

That means that the damage will have a huge impact on their lives, for weeks, months and years into the future. 

Stephanie Kaple runs the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless, an organization that helps prevent homelessness by paying emergency rent, air conditioner repairs and medical bills for community members in need.  

She said that despite support from the United Way and Monroe County, those funds, post hurricane, will soon be running out.

Greg Garner, in back, embraces neighbor Linda Nettles on Tuesday in front of his long-time family home in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina after Tropical Storm Irma hit the area

Garner’s family home lost part of its roof in the disastrous storm 

A dock is mangled on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Irma hit Isle of Palms, South Carolina 

Isle of Palms, South Carolina residents inspect storm surge damage done inside the Wild Dunes resort on Monday

Kevin Wilson, from Greenville, South Carolina, walks over damage done to the Grand Pavilion in the Wild Dunes resort after Tropical Storm Irma hit the Isle of Palms on Monday 

Family members walk down the beach on the Isle of Palms on Monday as boardwalks are damaged after Tropical Storm Irma

Corey Smith, who rode out the hurricane in Key Largo, said Tuesday that the power is out on the island, there’s very limited gas and supermarkets are closed. Piles of brush and branches are blocking some roads. The UPS driver said he fears an influx of returnees could overwhelm what limited resources there are. 

‘They’re shoving people back to a place with no resources,’ he said by phone. ‘It’s just going to get crazy pretty quick.’

Still, he said people coming back to Key Largo should be relieved that many buildings avoided major damage.

Authorities were stopping people to check documentation such as proof of residency or business ownership before they’re allowed back into the Upper Keys. County officials announced that one of three shuttered hospitals on the island chain was reopening.

After flying over the Keys Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott described overturned mobile homes, washed-ashore boats and flood damage. A Navy aircraft carrier was due to anchor off Key West to help in search-and-rescue efforts. 

Irma has weakened to a tropical depression and is was swirling over the Alabama-Mississippi border Tuesday afternoon.  

At least 14 deaths in the U.S. have been connected to Irma, and 35 in the Caribbean.  Seven of the U.S. deaths happened in Florida, three in Georgia and four in South Carolina.

An uprooted tree that slashed a trailer in half in the wake of Hurricane Irma is pictured at a mobile home park in Kissimmee, Florida on Tuesday

]Waist-deep in floodwater, Shelly Hughes reacts as she gets her first look at the inside of her flooded camper at the Peace River Campground in Arcadia, Florida on Tuesday

Shelly Hughes reacts as she gets her first look at the inside of her flooded camper at the Peace River Campground on Tuesday

Vilano Beach, Florida residents look at a collapsed coastal house on Tuesday

A home is completely destroyed, cut in half by a falling tree, while another is mostly unscathed at a mobile home park in the wake of Hurricane Irma in Kissimmee, Florida on Tuesday

People walk under a downed tree in a Bonita Springs, Florida community on Tuesday

People wait in line outside of a Fort Myers, Florida hardware store on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma swept through the area

Bryan Cubias shops in a Miami, Florida store that doesn’t have power on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma passed through the area

People exit a Fort Myers, Florida hardware store on Tuesday, two days after Hurricane Irma swept through the area

In Monroe County, Florida, a man died after losing control of his truck, which was carrying a generator, in heavy winds. Three of the other deaths were also vehicular.

In Hardee County, a sheriff’s deputy Julie Bridges, 42, crashed head on with the car driven by Corrections Officer Joseph Ossman, 53.  

Heidi Zehner, 50, was driving on a highway near Orlando Sunday night when she lost control of her SUV and hit a guardrail.

In Winter Park, Florida, Brian Buwalda, 51, was electrocuted by a downed power line on Monday.

Wilfredo Hernandez, 55, died in Tampa when the chain saw he was using to clear trees in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma became entangled in a branch, causing it to kick up and cut his carotid artery. 

A worker uses a pressure cleaner to wash the exterior of the Colony Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida on Tuesday, after Hurricane Irma passed through the area 

Florida Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Jeremy Commander address troops from Delta Company, 1st Battallion, 124th Infantry, 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team before departing the Miramar Barracks for the Florida Keys on Tuesday

Maria Soto and Michael Perez return to their home in Miami Beach, Florida on Tuesday for the first time after seeking shelter in a friend’s home during Hurricane Irma 

A local resident observes the remains of a Sunoco gas station in the wake of Hurricane Irma in Kissimmee, Florida on Tuesday

And in Miami-Dade County, a person died of carbon monoxide poisoning from using a generator the wrong way.

The body of a 62-year-old man who climbed a ladder behind his home was found under debris on the roof of his shed in southwest Georgia, where winds topped 40 mph, Worth County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kannetha Clem said. His wife had called 911 saying he’d had a heart attack.

‘He was lodged between two beams and had a little bit of debris on top of him,’ Clem said. ‘He was on the roof at the height of the storm.’

Another man, in his 50s, was killed just outside Atlanta when a tree fell on his house, Sandy Springs police Sgt. Sam Worsham said.

And a woman died when a tree fell on a vehicle in a private driveway, according to the website of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

Bill Quinn surveys the damage caused to his trailer home in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys, on Tuesday

Debris from trailer homes destroyed by Hurricane Irma litters the Seabreeze Trailer Park in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys, on Tuesday 

A damaged home sits in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida

Shingles are ripped off the roofs of homes in Key West, Florida on Tuesday after Hurricane Irma 

Charles Saxon, 57, became South Carolina’s first recorded death when he was struck by a tree limb while clearing debris outside his home in Calhoun Falls amid wind gusts of about 40 mph, according to a statement from Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley. 

The former hurricane remained an immense, 415-mile wide storm as its center moved on from Florida Monday afternoon, giving its still-formidable gusts and drenching rains a far reach.

Some 540,000 people were ordered to evacuate days earlier from Savannah and the rest of Georgia’s coast. Irma sent 4 feet of ocean water into downtown Charleston, South Carolina, as the storm’s center passed 250 miles away. City officials urged residents to stay off the streets. 

In Atlanta, people nervously watched towering oak trees as the city, 250 miles inland, experienced its first tropical storm warning.

Communities along Georgia’s coast were swamped by storm surge and rainfall arriving at high tide Monday afternoon. On Tybee Island east of Savannah, Holland Zellers was grabbing a kayak to reach his mother in a home near the beach.

‘In the street right now, the water is knee-to-waist deep,’ Zeller said.

A roof is damaged on a building in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

This photo shows Duval Street on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

House boats, some damaged from Hurricane Irma, sit in a marina on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

Senior Chief Naval Aircrewman Xipetotec Thorngate searches Key West during a reconnaissance mission from an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter over Key West, Florida

Damaged homes sit in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida

Roofs in a mobile home park are damaged from Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida

Water from the nearby Peace River floods the Peace River Campground in the wake of Hurricane Irma on September 12 in Arcadia, Florida  

Dirty water surrounds clean water in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma near Fort Myers, Florida on Tuesday

Debris from Hurricane Irma is pushed up against a sea wall in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

A weather station has some roof damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

Debris is washed against a sea wall in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Tuesday in Key West, Florida 

Tybee Island City Manager Shawn Gillen said waters were receding quickly, but many of the 3,000 residents’ homes were flooded.

‘I don’t think people who have lived here a long time have ever seen flooding this bad,’ Gillen said.

The tidal surge sent damaged boats rushing more than three blocks onto downtown streets in St. Marys, just north of the Georgia-Florida state line, St. Marys Police Lt. Shannon Brock said.

Downtown Atlanta hotels remained full of evacuees. Many milled about the CNN Center, escaping crowded hotel rooms in search of open restaurants. Many were glued to storm coverage on the atrium’s big screen. Parents pointed out familiar sites, now damaged, to their children.

‘We’ve been here since Friday night, and we’re ready to go home’ to Palm Beach County, Florida, Marilyn Torrence said as her 4-year-old colored.