Hurricane Irma Aftermath: Flooding Evacuations, Hurricane Maria Forecast, Primitive Conditions In Keys

About 660,000 Florida households and businesses are still without power Sunday night as crews work to bring back electricity to the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the damage and impact of which touched touched the length and breadth of the state, from devastation in the Florida Keys to extreme flooding along the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. Miami plans to reopen its schools Monday, while residents can now return to Key West, but authorities warned they will have to support themselves with basic necessities in the days ahead. And the raging Withlacoochee River's waters are surging, which has triggered evacuations of thousands of residents in the region north of Tampa.

"The Keys are not what you left several days ago when you evacuated. Electricity, sewer and water are intermittent at best," said Monroe County Mayor George Neugent during a news conference Saturday. Returning islanders should bring enough supplies to sustain them for a while, including tents, small air conditioning units, food, water and medications.

Authorities say it could be the end of the week before the water level of the Withlacoochee River north of Tampa in Hernando County begins to drop. Hernando County Sheriff's officials said Sunday the river has reached major flood stage at the Trilby gauge. The river is currently at 16.79 feet and is expected to crest at 17.5 feet Wednesday.

Now that many evacuees have made their way home, Airbnb says that more than 200 people around the Southeast opened their homes free of charge to help people affected by Hurricane Irma. Users of the popular app in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina used the company's Disaster Response Program, which offers temporary stays for people during the storm. "It is literally neighbors helping neighbors, across communities and states, and it’s great to see,” the company said.

Even as recovery from Hurricane Irma continues, residents were reminded that this is peak hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean when forecasters at the National Hurricane Center officially upgraded Maria to a Category 1 storm Sunday evening. By 5 p.m. Sept. 17, Hurricane Maria was located about 140 miles east-northeast of Barbados. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph while moving west-northwest at 15 mph.

Hurricane warnings are up for St. Kitts, Nevis and other interests in the region, 36 hours ahead of the storm. Hurricane watches had also gone up for the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and Anguilla, among other locations. Whether the storm will impact Florida or any part of the continental United States remains too soon to tell.

Human residents of the Florida Keys were not the islands' only hurricane victims. Many of the pets of Monroe County are also struggling in the recovery from the storm, often in need of medical care and food. To help residents and their pets cope, four veterinary hospitals in Marathon are currently open.

As of Sunday evening, the state said 663,398 residential and business power customers remained without electricity, for about 6.3 percent still without lights and air conditioning. On Sunday night, Florida Power and Light, one of the state's largest utilities, estimated that about 375,900 of its customers were still without power, while Tampa Electric, which provides power to much of the Tampa Bay area, said it has 1,383 customers waiting for power. In addition, Duke Energy reported that about 159,000 customers were still without power; there was no update Sunday on whether those numbers improved.

In St. Pete, Duke Energy's failure to meet its self imposed deadline of Friday night to restore power drew the ire of Mayor Rick Kriseman. The utility had said its customers in Pinellas and Pasco counties would have their power restored by the end of Saturday. Kriseman issued a statement saying he was extremely disappointed that the deadline would pass without power being restored to all of St. Pete. Kriseman added that while it was irresponsible for Duke to set a deadline and give false hope to residents, he recognized the progress the company had made. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Miami-Dade County public schools will reopen for classes on Monday, Sept. 18, officials announced Sunday afternoon. "Because teaching and learning are vital to our mission ... we will resume classes on Monday, September 18," the district said in a statement on Twitter. Broward County schools announced that they plan to reopen Monday.

Florida Power & Light acknowledged on Saturday that it will not be able to meet its target to restore power to all customers on the eastern side of the state by the end of Sunday. FPL had also set a target of restoring power to all of its Florida customers by the end of the day Sept. 22. Some 347,590 customers remained without power in the state's eight most southern counties as of early Sunday morning, according to a Patch analysis.

"We’ve had some significant challenges," FPL's Robert Gould said at Zoo Miami. "We’ve seen some flooded areas. We had areas of tornadic damage, areas that are again not readily apparent."

Under the revised estimate, Miami-Dade County is now expected to have power restored on Tuesday. Broward and Palm Beach counties were also expected to take longer than expected to get power restored.

When Sister Margaret Ann, the chainsaw-wielding nun and principal of Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School in Miami, cut up downed trees on the property, her work was caught on video and she became a worldwide sensation. She laughed off the attention, saying her students are enjoying watching her on social media, and ome have even asked for her autograph.

"I think it has been really good for our community, and I understand that the video has really gone worldwide, so that's kinda funny," the nun said, who was glad the video gave the public a different view of nuns.

In Broward County, the lack of power has already been responsible for the heat-related deaths of eight residents in a steaming nursing home in Hollywood, and elderly residents of another powerless facility in the region were evacuated to buildings with air conditioning. The nursing home reportedly dialed an emergency number for Florida Gov. Rick Scott three times seeking aid. Including the nursing home deaths, at least 27 people in Florida have died because of Irma, and the storm has claimed seven other lives in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, bringing the U.S. death toll to 34 Friday, most of them occurring after the storm had passed. In the Caribbean, which Irma hit as a Category 5 storm, 38 people have died.

Georgia hosted thousands of Florida evacuees, and several died in accidents. A young mother and her baby died when they were hit by a car in Cherokee County, while a 10-year-old boy from the Fort Lauderdale area died in the middle of a scuffle in DeKalb County when a driver tried to flee the violence. And two men from Florida -- one from Tampa and the other from St. Augustine -- were killed when the Dodge Charger they were riding in crashed in East Cobb County earlier in the week.

As Floridians grapple with insurance claims and applying for disaster relief, residents also seemed ready to cheer up and be in better spirits. Country music star Brad Paisley offered free tickets for his Saturday show in Tampa to first responders and in classic Miami fashion, Miami Beach celebrated the lifting of the local curfew with a party.

As a thank you for their service during Hurricane Irma, first responders can pick up two free tickets to any of the remaining Marlins home games. The team has won 11 of its last 18 home games. The offer is also good for residents of Monroe County, who suffered some of the worst damage from Hurricane Irma anywhere in Florida. The Marlins return to Marlins Park on Monday for the start of a three-game homestand against the New York Mets.

Irma not only crushed homes and businesses, it crushed dreams. David Green, of Chantilly, Virginia, was finally ready to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a charter boat captain. At 58, he was ready to retire from his job as a computer systems engineer. He bought a boat and planned to fly down to the Caribbean in November to embark on a new adventure. Green's yacht, the Mon Amie — French for "my friend" — was anchored in Paraquita Bay, a popular "hurricane hole" off Tortola, where boats are kept for safe harbor when storms pass; but he learned late last week that it sank.

"So many people can’t laugh at their situation. It’s impossible for me to do anything but try to keep my perspective. It’s just stuff," Green told The Associated Press.

Still, as the storm fades, memories remain. In Miami, residents spoke about their experiences with the storm, one woman recounted how she was evacuating to Coral Gables but left her dog's IV and special dog food at home, while another woman spoke of how she was unable to find a hotel room.

Some residents felt forgotten as they dealt with the storm's aftermath and moved around from one place to another. Margherita Lopez, 43, said she's been shuffled to three different shelters since evacuating her home in Key West.

"It's been a nightmare ... there should have been a better plan," she said.

Across Florida, local, state and federal emergency officials are struggling to assist the flood of evacuees, many of whom are seeking temporary or permanent shelter from a storm that cast a wide swath across the state. Even Keys residents who have a home to return to have been left without power, water and sewage service.

The state says about 7,500 people were in nearly 100 shelters as of Friday, and that the Red Cross planned to open four shelters in the Keys once the area was properly surveyed.

One woman living in a mandatory evacuation area said she decided not to evacuate and while its a decision Punta Gorda resident Margaret said she doesn't regret, it's not one she'll make again.

"We dodged a bullet," she said. "God was good to us."

Meanwhile, officials said the Middle Keys reopened Saturday for residents who evacuated. Key West residents and those who live on the lower Keys west of Seven Mile Bridge will be permitted to return on Sunday. Residents of the upper keys were allowed to return earlier in the week.

The region, extremely popular with tourists, is not open to visitors yet and is anticipated to open Oct. 20 to visitors if everything goes according to plan.

For Floridians rebuilding. Gov. Rick Scott ordered Department of Business and Professional Regulation to suspend certain regulations and fees that may prevent, hinder or delay necessary response and recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma.

While Irma is long gone, the National Hurricane Center is keeping tabs on Hurricane Jose and on Saturday, the NHC said Tropical Storm Lee had formed and Potential Tropical Cyclone 15, is expected to become Maria by the end of the day.

Patch editors Don Johnson, Deb Belt and Paul Scicchitano contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Photo: A house rests on the beach after collapsing off a cliff from Hurricane Irma in Vilano Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. Florida’s economy has long thrived on one major import: people. Irma raised concerns about just how sustainable the allure of Florida’s year-round warmth and lifestyle are. The wind, rain and flooding inflicted an estimated $50 billion in damage. Photo by David Goldman/Associated Press