Storms are a fact of life for the 20-plus million that call ourselves Floridians. Mother Nature reminded us of this when Hurricane Irma made her one-two punch – the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in 2005. Before and after Irma’s impact, Floridians responded.
Royal Caribbean International’s Empress of the Seas, with 878 passengers and about 600 crew members, docked in Key West Sunday marking the first cruise ship visit since before Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys Sept. 10.
Florida Keys tourism officials said Monday they will meet Gov. Rick Scott‘s Oct. 1 deadline to reopen to visitors after Hurricane Irma pounded Monroe County.
Prudence Duchene will never forget the day she moved to Key West. It was Aug. 30 — the day a storm brewing in the Atlantic got named Irma.
Florida could recover from Hurricane Irma’s wrath in time for its busy tourism season this winter, but that’s likely not the case for harder-hit Caribbean islands including St. Martin/St. Maarten, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Barbuda, according to travel experts’ early reads.
Residents were allowed to return Tuesday to some islands in the hurricane-hit Florida Keys as officials pieced together the scope of Irma’s destruction and aid rushed into the drenched and debris-strewn state.
Telecommunications giant AT&T is giving another $1.4 million in relief toward “sustained recovery” efforts in Florida, Texas and the Caribbean after a pair of devastating hurricanes.