Jennifer Graves hunkered down in her Florida Keys home as Hurricane Irma made landfall on its path of destruction north of the Caribbean.
Just moments later, her basement was underwater. She thought it was the end.
"The waters started rising up to the spiral staircase from the basement," Graves said. "It got to about 3 feet and that's when I really started freaking out."
Graves had never waited out a hurricane before Irma. She decided not to evacuate her home in Key Colony near Marathon.
"I wasn't expecting any of that," she said. "I thought we'd get some wind and maybe some rain."
Irma's powerful storm surge and winds moved houses and ripped the roofs off several businesses along Highway 1. Graves' neighborhood is now in shambles. She recalls seeing burned out cars and houses on fire.
"I thought we were going to die," she said. "I was in fear for my life. It was the scariest thing I've ever experienced and I would never do it again. It was absolutely terrifying."
Lourdes Santana also rode the storm out, but she spent Irma in Key West.
""It was scary because the winds they were so bad, the water, it was scary. I had a panic attack that night too," Santana said. "It was noisy, very, very noisy, the wind was 'zzzz' all the windows, all the windows, everything moving in the house."
Santana lives in the Coconut Grove Trailer Homes but rode out the storm somewhere else. She finally returned to her home Thursday and found her neighborhood demolished and a tree ripped through her roof.
She also said he found bodies.
"Right there by the boat. We found two already," she said.
Santana said her landlord told her since more than 50 percent of her neighborhood is destroyed it has to be condemned. Like many residents she has no idea what to do next.
Graves and Santana are two of the survivors but officials say at least eight people were killed and some 40 people were injured in the Keys during Irma.
Local
On Thursday, more gas stations opened in parts of the Keys and more lights came back on, but locals were still not allowed to drive to the hardest-hit areas.
Re-entry was still limited to residents and business owners in the Upper Keys, and only to Mile Marker 73 in Islamorada.
Officials aren't sure when residents of the middle and lower Florida Keys will be allowed back. First workers need to scramble to get power back and water running.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott tweeted Thursday night that the Red Cross is preparing to open four shelters in the Keys after area surveys and consultation with local officials.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew remained in place in the Keys until further notice. There was also a precautionary boil water notice in effect for all of the Keys.
Officials said water, food, power, fuel, sewer and medical services remained limited Thursday from Marathon to Key West.
"We know people are anxious to return but we can’t put an artificial timeline on when it will be safe to return," Monroe County Health Department Director Bob Eadie said in a statement. "Now it is not safe for people to come to the Middle Keys. We don’t want to create a health crisis."
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue spokesman Jeremy Hurd, who was in the Keys helping out, said on Wednesday officials want to make sure infrastructure is in place before they let island dwellers return.
Hurd said more than 300 power poles were down, and officials were concerned that fires could be started as they try to restore power. Gasoline supplies were still a problem the further one goes toward the lower Keys, where many gas stations were damaged and not working.
The Coast Guard has delivered water and hundreds of pounds of food, blankets and hygiene items to the Marathon airport as aid workers struggle to fill the gap.
"Our cutter crews have been working around the clock," said Capt. Jason Ryan, Chief of Enforcement for the Coast Guard's Seventh District.
Search and rescue teams continued to go door to door in the hardest hit areas of the Keys, including Big Pine Key and Cudjoe Key Thursday. Military personnel have helped law enforcement break through the debris and assist in the search.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
