Irma evacuees face different kind of stress

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Staying in Key West through Hurricane Irma was stressful. But for those who evacuated, not knowing how the city and its residents fared throughout the storm was almost worse.

An estimated 8,000 people refused to evacuate in Key West. That means that almost 19,000 people left, most of them desperate for information and struggling to handle power and communication outages where they had sheltered. One of those was Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers, who evacuated to Orlando with her wife, dog and two children. Although they were safe and comfortable in a hotel room, Carruthers was part of the emergency management team trying to assess damage throughout Monroe County, which was among the hardest hit areas. Carruthers was up early for media interviews and emergency team phone calls, and up late scrolling through Facebook to give and receive information on the storm’s aftermath.

On Sept. 14, four days after Irma roared through, Carruthers posted a heart-breaking note on Facebook.

“A personal post…I am dead tired and can’t sleep. Again. I stop for a minute and I start to cry. We are lucky. Our home is fine, our friends and family are safe, our town weathered Irma better than Wilma.

But the enormity of the loss in my beautiful islands is unfathomable. I cannot imagine the feeling to know someone you love did not see Monday, or the home you built and loved is just gone,” she wrote.

Carruthers’ post struck a nerve with the other evacuees, who were struggling to get information about family, friends and property. Hundreds of people read the post and commented, thanking Carruthers for understanding what they were going through and caring so deeply for the Florida Keys.

Emotions are still running high. Carruthers said that the smallest things can lead to tears. She described how her wife, Coleen, broke down at a restaurant when the waiter, unasked, brought extra watermelon to the table for their kids.

“Coleen is trying to deal with the kids. And I’m on the phone all day. So that’s some friction,” she said. “And, frankly, a little bit of guilt that you’re not there.”

Carruthers said that the outpouring of support and caring “is almost more than a heart can hold.” She thanked her fellow Keys residents for the strength they have shown, which has helped her get through some of the long nights.

“I am a Gemini. The head part of me is trying to balance our collective desire to be home with the realities of scarce resources; is thinking of what we must do to make ourselves safer for storms like this; is constantly evaluating our technology and processes; and is determined to find sturdy and appropriate housing (call if workforce or affordable, I don’t care) for those who lost theirs,” Carruthers wrote in her Sept. 14 Facebook post. “And the heart part of me, well, that just aches with empathy and gratitude. Thank you, my One Human Family, for being.”

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