ATT cel service just came back for Key West! So now people can begin to make contact for some folks down there.

Factoid: Irma's eye hit right between Key West and Marathon and was about 25 miles wide.

So...if the west side was as strong as the east side, why was destruction worse on the ease side??

Couldn't tell you. Just saying that if you are in the path of the eye wall of a hurricane the whole good side/bad side thing is meaningless.

Back to the main topic of this thread, which is what's happening in Key West post-Irma:

Lots of good news trickling out this morning:

--big generator brought in for sewage plant so Key West now has sewer service, and that's a good thing!
--NOAA satellite images show most loved parts of the town seem to have come through unscathed (at least their roofs have...): Sloppy Joe's, Green Parrot, Little White House, Mallory Square area, White Street corridor down to White Street pier and over to Casa Marina
--friends drove by our house in southern part of Bahama Village and things look okay--the area between Whitehead and Thomas and Olivia/Truman/Julia/Virginia/Amela
--a friend's little wood conch house on edge of cemetery did get some damage, but open spaces in front of a house like the cemetery let the wind go on a rampage
--cel phone service started up yesterday afternoon with ATT and it's supposed to keep spreading for full cel and internet connection soon (can't define "soon")

It's all good. Plus, no reported deaths so far in the town, whew.

NOAA satellite images show most loved parts of the town seem to have come through unscathed

I saw those images yesterday - I was looking for pics of my cousins' houseboat. They were told two houseboats on their dock had sunk (theirs is okay), but from the pictures, that information is inaccurate. I sure hope the pics are right.

Glad to hear things are already "picking up".

Sadly, two deaths now reported in KW

Oh my. From what?

Don't know. Was reported by the Monroe County Commission, no details. Check the group Facebook site mentioned at the beginning of this thread, it has lots of updated information.

We have power back and internet. Thanks for the links. Our gate exit road is covered in sand but looks like the base did ok. There are goats over there and I was worried about them. I am sure they did ok. They have places to get out of the rain and wind.

@Macross: So happy for you. When you say "base" do you mean the navy base at Boca Chica? And goats? I've seen videos posted on different people's FB and other web pages showing Key deer hopping over Route 1 so it looks like most of them survived. Ditto the chickens in Key West.

Our house-sitter returned to our house in Bahama Village two days ago. The whole area is dry, did not flood. Not a scratch on the house. Amazing. Lots of branches all over the grounds of course. She has intermittent text and cel phone connections to the outer world and she sounded great. She had sheltered with other friends of ours in another house that has a bunker room, and that's where they rode out the storm. Even though the county and FEMA decided yesterday to let bona fide residents reenter the Keys all the way down to Key West, many locals are advising people to still wait a few days.

They say the town really smells, from rotting garbage and stuff; it's very hot; water flows sometimes but not drinkable so you have to boil it or rely on the bottles handed out by FEMA and the National Guard; the Publix grocery store is open but they are selling from their inventory because no commercial food supply trucks have arrived yet. There's very little structural damage on the island of Key West (Stock Island a different story and great destruction of boats). A big ficus smashed children's author Shel Silverstein's house. Also the gigantic ficus at the West Martello tower, the KW Garden Club place, the tree with the tunnel cut through it--that was blown over and all the old brick work ripped up. Too bad.

It looks like FEMA has been doing a superb job, as have all the responders, military, National Guard, police, fire, city and county officials--bravo to them all!

Here's a video of Key West taken Sunday morning, after the eye had passed, posted by Mark Hedden yesterday evening. It's on his FB page. These streets look surprisingly okay, considering that the storm was hammering away just hours before.

He starts at Passover Lane on the side of the cemetery, down Windsor Lane to Our Lady Star of the Sea, east on Truman, then south on White, passing Sandy's Cafe, and Fausto's (their canvas awning is still intact!).

NAS Truman Annex base. The exit road by southernmost point is cover in sand. The other exit looks fine. There is an old bunker still on base and they have goats there to eat the grass on the big hill. There are about five or six of them.
So glad Fausto's is ok. I saw where the roof shingles were missing from Our Lady Star of the Sea. I bet it stinks. I know there are many flights going into NAS Key West right now so hoping they are bringing in supplies and hopefully a medical ship. Great your house is dry and ok.

Oh right. A friend of ours does security there and we are six blocks away. Never seen the goats, though. Do you give goat tours?