IN IRMA’S WAKE
200 rescued in Orange flood 900,000 in area without power Parks set to reopen today
Hurricane Irma battered the Florida Keys and South Florida, swiped the Tampa area and unexpectedly targeted Orlando at the last moment late Sunday, bringing hours of rain and strong winds that left about 6.5 million homes and businesses without power and 200,000 people in shelters.
At least two people were killed during the storm in Orange County.
About 900,000 homes and businesses were still without power Monday night in five Central Florida counties, and residents came outside after hours indoors to find downed trees blocking streets and damaging homes and cars.
And about 4 a.m. Monday, a lake in west Orange County’s Orlo Vista neighborhood overflowed, leading to floods. Orange County firefighters and members of the National Guard pulled more than 200 people from 500 homes and took them to local shelters.
“How are we going to survive from here?” asked Gwen Bush, a resident who walked through thigh-deep floodwaters. “What’s going to happen now? I just don’t know.”
No injuries were reported in the neighborhood.
In South Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said he saw boats washed ashore and flood damage when he flew over the Florida Keys on Monday.
He did not know whether there were casualties, but said he hoped everyone who did not evacuate survived the storm.
“The Keys right now,” Scott said, “not having water, not having sewer, not having electricity, I mean, how can you live there?”
“Marathon was completely underwater,” said state Rep. Holly Raschein, RKey Largo. “Cudjoe Key took a direct hit; we’re still having problems communicating there. Flooding on Big Pine. It’s pretty widespread. The good thing is a lot of people did evacuate, so we’re seeing a bad situation that could have been worse.”
Tampa and St. Petersburg were spared the damage some meteorologists feared when the storm did not hug the state’s Gulf Coast, and instead headed closer inland. The National Weather Service recorded maximum wind gusts of 79 mph at Orlando International Airport, and gusts of 83 mph in Cocoa Beach.
The higher winds brought damage to Central Florida.
Edgardo Plaza, 53, looked out from the seawall where his sailboat was docked at SunDance Marine in Palm Shores, Brevard County. He could see only the mast and ropes dangling. The ocean had buried the rest of the vessel.
“I checked on it last night, and it seemed fine,” he said perched atop wood and metal debris along the harbor. “I can’t believe it.”
The damage was only an ounce of what Brevard County saw during Hurricane Irma, which left many without electricity and nearly half of the county’s 579,000 residents without running water.
About 80 percent of Polk County was without power, including shelters. Polk County officials warned drivers of potentially dangerous downed power lines.
In nearby Lake County, firefighters in Clermont rescued a 23-year-old man who was crushed in bed when a tree fell through his roof, police Sgt. Malcolm Draper said. During a lull in the storm at 1:45 a.m., when sustained winds were higher than 50 mph and gusting to 90 mph, firefighters hurried to the home and lifted the tree from the man.
Fire Chief Carle Bishop drove the man to South Lake Hospital, where authorities quickly realized he needed surgery but no doctor was available. Police officers went to a doctor’s home and drove him to the hospital, where the man successfully underwent surgery for internal injuries. He is in stable condition, Draper said.
More than 30 people were rescued in Volusia County during Hurricane Irma on Sunday night and Monday morning.
Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen said the west side of the county and Beach Street in Daytona Beach sustained the most damage, particularly downed trees.
“In the end, if we all work together we can all guarantee a safe return to normalcy,” he said.
The biggest hurdle will be restoring power, he said. More than 220,000 customers in Volusia County are without power as of Monday afternoon, according to Florida Emergency Management.
As the day went on and winds quieted, people across Central Florida tried to return to normal. Against advice, some left their homes — 11 people were arrested on charges of curfew violations in Orange County, including three on burglary charges. Others just got out of the house — a person in an inflatable T-Rex costume and black flip-flops found a tree blocking an Orlando road and climbed onto it as people nearby filmed with their cellphones.
Schools are still closed today. Most curfews were lifted by Monday afternoon, though Mount Dora instituted another one from Monday night to 6 a.m. today because of a power line down.
Robert and Maria Gonzalez said they looked outside their Kissimmee home during the night and saw floodwaters almost up to the front door. The water looked like a lake — and they joked they didn’t know they’d gotten a lake house.
“We were thinking, ‘Please don’t come in,’ ” Maria Gonzalez said. The couple and their 10-year-old son had seen images of residents stranded because of flooding in Houston after Hurricane Harvey weeks before. They feared they could end up in the same situation.
Water seeped into their garage on Town & Country Drive, but they found no damage. Water had begun to recede midday Monday, but still not enough that they would risk driving their van through it, they said.
Despite curfews and hazardous debris blocking off streets, local highways across counties in Central Florida were used all day Monday. Florida Highway Patrol troopers were pulling over drivers who refused to follow road laws at intersections where traffic lights were still out. FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said drivers should exercise additional caution until road conditions return to normal, which could take some time.
One fatality in the storm was a car crash. Heidi Zehner, 50, died after losing control of an SUV on State Road 417 Sunday evening as the storm approached. The other, Brian Buwalda, 51, was apparently electrocuted at Leith and Westchester avenues in Winter Park by a downed power line Monday morning.
The University of Central Florida offered to house up to 1,000 National Guard members and 250 of their vehicles on campus as recovery continues, a university spokeswoman said. Saturday’s UCF football game against Georgia Tech was canceled Monday.
In Seminole County, the driver of a van accidentally drove head first into a sinkhole that opened in the parking lot of the Astor Park apartments off Tuskawilla Road near Red Bug Road. The driver, who was not injured, was pulled out of the vehicle from the back window of the van by a resident good Samaritan.
Jeff Lane was out walking his dog on Monday morning in his neighborhood near Aloma Avenue and S.R. 417.
Overnight, a wind gust tore his kitchen skylight open.
“I threw some blankets down and grabbed a storage crate to catch the water,” he said. “It’s not too bad.”
He said the sound of the storm reminded him of Charley in 2004.
“We were without power for three weeks after Charley,” he said. “Hopefully, it won’t be that long.” The Associated Press and staff writers Christal Hayes, Krista Torralva, Lauren Ritchie, Martin Comas, Jason Ruiter, Marco Santana, Beth Kassab, David Harris, Dan Sweeney and Phillip Valys contributed to this report.