Behind CNN's John Zarrella was an island with all its trees stripped of leaves, and boats sitting on the island, 30 feet inland. In the water in front, two sailboat masts lean out of the water.
As bad as it was everywhere else on the Gulf Coast, Key West was lucky, considering that its highest point is a mere 12 feet above sea level and storm surges are higher than that. The Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico met on Roosevelt Avenue during Wilma, something that hasn't happened since the devastating hurricane of Labor Day 1935 that destroyed the railroad from Miami to Key West and killed 500 people. Key West knows hurricanes, and it knows it is extremely vulnerable and exists only because Mother Nature lets it exist.
A month after the storm hit here, the signs are reminiscent of Arkansas after a typical summer storm with 90 mph winds or a tornado. Roofs, building facades, and signs missing or damaged. The Sheraton on the Atlantic side near the airport is undergoing a complete renovation because all its windows are gone.
More telling, however, are the piles of household goods still stacked on the streets in residential areas waiting to be picked up for disposal: refrigerators, washers and driers, furniture, beds, piles of clothes. Some houses looked like the owners have been evicted and all their belongings are on the street. They've not been evicted. It's just all there stuff was flooded and now mildewed or moldy, from 2-3 feet of water for a day, not 10 feet for a month like in New Orleans. FEMA's not helping with clean up, and all the trash has to be hauled back to the mainland. The island is too small to have a dump.
Another, less obvious sign is the damaged vegetation: half the palm trees are damaged with brown palm fronds waiting to fall; all the color from the beautiful flowers on the ground and in trees are gone. Many trees have no leaves, and it looks like fall in the North. The locals lament that it will take a couple of years for the color to fully return; a year if they are lucky.
Compared to New Orleans, where I went October 31st, Key West remains a paradise. For being in Wilma's path of destruction, they were extremely lucky and suffered no where near the damage. But Wilma was nowhere near as strong as Katrina by the time it got here.
Another casualty that was a little surprising: The funky Iguana restaurant, which had a plastic roof with a tree in the middle is out of business. It had the best conch fritters on the island. It was always my first stop when I got to town. The Garden of Eden clothing optional bar? It survived.
