Keys Residents Return To Grim Situation; Water Currently Biggest Issue
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
KEY WEST (CBSMiami) – Residents in the Florida Keys are returning home to a grim situation.
CBS4's Jim DeFede was able to call into the Key West Emergency Operations Center on one of the two land lines that are working.
He found out that there's no water, no electricity, no sewer, no cell towers and extremely spotty internet service.
Of all those problems, water remains the biggest issue. There's no running water in Key West. The residents aren't even able to flush toilets.
The emergency operations center has a few large water tanks and are rationing water, allowing people to use a trickle of water for two hours each morning to wash up. But the water is not drinkable.
They have basically run out of all supplies and are now handing out MREs that are being flown in by C130.
An emergency medical crew was flown in to staff the hospital on Stock Island and the ER is now open with power restored to the hospital emergency center.
A dead male body was discovered on the street in Key West during the height of the storm. It is not clear how the person died.
Despite all of this, officials want people to know they survived the storm and are anxious because they can't get word to their loved ones.