Florida Keys residents rethink decisions to ride out Wilma

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http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/12984965.htm


Posted on Mon, Oct. 24, 2005

Florida Keys residents rethink decisions to ride out Wilma

DAVID ROYSE

Associated Press


KEY WEST, Fla. - Some residents of the Florida Keys were rethinking their refusal to evacuate for Hurricane Wilma on Monday after the storm isolated them, submerged streets under water up to 5 feet deep and turned out their lights.

No travel was possible in or out of Key West. Jay Gewin, assistant to the mayor, said 35 percent of the city was flooded, including the airport, and U.S. 1, the lone highway connecting the islands to each other and the mainland, was flooded near Islamorada.

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Key West streets were flooded four blocks inland from the shore.

"Within 45 minutes, it went from 6 inches to 4 or 5 feet deep," said Chris Elwell, whose new Porsche Boxster was submerged to its roof.

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