Florida

Hurricane Irma Leaves Devastation, Darkness in Lower Keys

The farther you drive into the Florida Keys, the worse the destruction caused by Hurricane Irma seems to get.

Conditions in Big Pine Key, about 10 miles east of where Irma made landfall in Cudjoe Key, remain dangerous with mostly rescue crews, police and first responders patrolling the island chain.

"I thought it was going to be bad, but this is more than what I thought it was going to be— it's terrible," said Maggie Sixtos

Maggie lives in Miami and her family has a weekend getaway home in Big Pine Key— or at least they had one.

"They don't know what they're going to find when they come back," she said. "I just came today to see everything."

Despite the devastation Irma left behind, however, Maggie is maintaining a positive attitude.

"Well, we love it— this is our paradise, so we will rebuild again." she said. "We will rebuild something better."

While Key West's iconic Duval Street did survive the worst of the predicted hurricane damage, pitch black-darkness along the famed party stretch makes it an eerie scene.

Key West didn't suffer the same devastation as Cudjoe and Big Pine Key, but Irma did knock power completely out.

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