Residents of the Florida Keys are starting to return to widespread devastation and ruin

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 13 September 2017

Residents of Florida's Upper Keys who evacuated during Hurricane Irma were allowed to start returning to their homes Wednesday morning, but federal officials warned them it wouldn't necessarily be pretty. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said that 90 percent of the homes in the Florida Keys were damaged and 25 percent of homes were destroyed by the hurricane, which made landfall Sunday morning on Cudjoe Key.

Officials from Monroe County, which encompasses the Keys and the Everglades, were a little more optimistic. "Things look real damaged from the air, but when you clear the trees and all the debris, it's not much damage to the houses," said Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers in a statement Tuesday night. Certainly it looks bad from the air, as seen in this helicopter footage of Big Pine Key, due east of Cudjoe Key.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.