PHOTOS: Keys Residents Face Devastated Homes, No Power And A Slow Recovery
For the first time since Hurricane Irma, people who live in the lower islands of the Florida Keys are returning home. For many, that means arriving at a home to no power and no running water. And for some who live in Marathon, Summerland and Big Pine Key — islands hard-hit by Irma — found their homes no longer livable.
When Hurricane Irma made landfall on Cudjoe Key last week, it carried winds of 130 miles per hour. For islands like Marathon Key on the "dirty" — more powerful — side of the storm, the storm surge was even more damaging than the winds.
When Scott Collins and hissouthern edge of Marathon Key, they found their home — with its million-dollar view just steps away from the turquoise blue southern Atlantic — devastated. He, his wife and two daughters evacuated to Orlando before Irma struck.The aluminum hurricane shutters covering the house's doors and windows facing the ocean had been crushed and peeled away by the powerful storm surge.
