BIG PINE KEY, Fla. – One year after Hurricane Irma delivered a destructive blow to Big Pine Key, the community continues to recover.
Days after Irma made landfall, Local 10 rode along with first responders from Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force Two. Crews went door-to-door, making sure no one was trapped inside any damaged structures.
A year later, some damaged homes appear to be untouched. Others are on the brink of a makeover.
According to Monroe County records, more structures were destroyed in Big Pine Key than anywhere else in the Keys.
One four-bedroom house on Avenue A, with windows blown in and a damaged roof, is now on the market for $399,000. Neighbors said there is an interested buyer.
Another destroyed house on concrete stilts that was taken off its foundation by storm surge and wind has been cleared off the property.
And at the site of a yellow house down the road, where exterior walls were blown off, a new modular home sits on new concrete stilts.
Owner Larry Weinberg said the old house was built in 1947.
"And it lasted until the last hurricane," Weinberg said. "We’re lucky to be able to get a modular -- guy had ordered it before. Now, you want to get a modular, you’d have to wait a year."
Weinberg said his family is among the lucky.
"They were alright," he said.