For some, little to lose in Keys now
BIG PINE KEY — Hurricane Irma took Dirk Lockard’s truck, his tools, his house — “it folded like a house of cards” — and turned the working class island he’d called home for the past 16 years into a scene of devastation. When the Category 4 storm swept through Big Pine Key in September with 140 mph winds and 5 feet of storm surge, it wiped homes off the map, crumpled trailers and scattered boats around like children’s toys.
Still, Lockard, 58, isn’t that worried about this year’s hurricane season. After all, he doesn’t have much to lose anymore.
“We have minimalized considerably,” he said, sitting in the folding chair in front of his current home, a shiny new trailer.
Although Big Pine, one of the hardest hit areas in the storm, still has work to do before the community is fully recovered from Irma, the rest of the Keys appear to be back online and ready for hurricane season.
The county promises issues from last year — a fight over debris removal contractors and anger over reentry procedures — won’t be repeated. Money is trickling in from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the residents in FEMA-subsidized housing are down to a handful.
Most importantly, said Martin Senterfitt, emergency management director for the Keys, residents had their storm preparation muscles flexed.
“Prior to Irma, 90 percent of the people in the Florida Keys [had] never experienced a major hurricane,” he said. “Now 90 percent of people have. Just that institutional knowledge, that right there is an incredible strength. We have a whole community now that gets it.”
That includes Lockard and his wife. He said if the spaghetti models show another hurricane headed for the Keys, then they’ll rent a truck and haul their trailer home and remaining belongings to safety. And they probably won’t come back.
Like many on Big Pine Key, Lockard can’t afford to rebuild a home that meets the hurricaneresilient codes that have been considerably beefed up in the decades since his house was built. But his land alone is still valuable, so he’s selling it to bankroll a new life somewhere more affordable.
The Keys economy has taken plenty of hits since the storm. Tourism is down, destroyed homes mean less property tax income and only $600,000 in FEMA cash has been deposited in county coffers so far.
Despite that, Roman Gastesi, the county administrator, feels confident that Monroe has enough money to handle the next hurricane.
For one thing, the taxes and fees from the many people selling their property are offsetting the loss of property tax revenue to the county from 1,500 homes that were destroyed or lost value.
The county also took out a $40 million line of credit. So far it’s used about $29 million, and Gastesi said Monroe has such good credit, it can always take out another loan.
The county applied for $34 million in FEMA reimbursement, he said. So far it’s received $600,000, with another $2.2 million on the way soon from the state, which serves as a conduit for the money.
Assurances from officials that the island chain is prepared for the season aside, residents are still wary.
On Thursday, 57-year-old retired middle school teacher Mike Austin was outside his Key Largo home kneeling on a car floor mat loosening the rusted lug nuts on his boat trailer. Next up on his storm preparation list, trimming the three coconut palms that dot his property, checking on his generator, and restocking water and looking over his box of hurricane stuff.
His wife, Sue, is already thinking about which valuables and sentimental items go in the car
“I’m not going to argue when they say it’s time to go,” he said. “It’s the price you pay of living in a beautiful area like this — or the risk you take, I should say.”