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Longtime Syracuse residents Larry and Kathleen Boyts moved to the Florida Keys a year ago but found themselves watching from Indiana as the eye of Hurricane Irma passed directly over their little oceanfront community, Cudjoe Key.
Their two-story home 20 miles east of Key West became ground zero shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday as Irma’s wrath, packing 130 mph winds, reached Florida.
Three days later, they still don’t know how their home fared, but were learning of significant devastation in parts of the Keys.
The central part of the Keys, including Cudjoe Key, remains open to only first responders, Kathleen said.
“Everything is still an assumption for us at this point,” Kathleen said this morning.
One video posted on her Facebook page showed large boats strewn across a road a few miles east of their home, she said.
The video post summary describes a “destroyed U.S. Highway 1, stranded boats, obliterated neighborhoods, and scattered vehicles and belongings.”
They spent the weekend glued to the television and social media and remained in “constant contact” with friends who stayed.
“I was more concerned about people that stayed,” Kathleen said. “You worry about the human life. I don’t know if you worry so much about the (property) stuff.”
Fortunately, in some regards, the Boyts found themselves watching from afar.
Larry returned to Indiana in late August to have knee surgery. Kathleen arrived Sept. 2 – two weeks before the storm hit – knowing Irma was looming in the Atlantic.
As the storm gained strength and concerns grew, they chose to stay in Northern Indiana.
Being in Indiana allowed them to remain more calm and find time to contact insurance companies and even file a report with FEMA.
“We made a wise decision not to try and go back and try to do anything,” she said.
The couple had called Syracuse home for 33 years, but they decided to follow their dreams to the Keys and moved in August 2016.
Larry works remotely as vice president of sales and marketing at Digger Specialties in Bremen. Kathleen owned an art studio, Creative Fish Art Gallery, for eight years before the couple moved. She was planning to reopen her studio and possibly a gallery in Key West.
She believes supplies and artwork for the studio that were housed on the first floor were destroyed by the surge. A 24-foot trailer with art display equipment is also likely gone, she said.
She’s more optimistic about the house because it’s been rated to survive a category 5 hurricane.
Irma was a category 4 when it struck Cudjoe Key.
“You can say you’re rated for a Cat 5, but that doesn’t mean anything with the power of wind,” she said.
She said she’s thankful for the friendships they established in the past year with neighbors in the Keys, some of whom helped prepare their house for the storm.
The Boyts were initially worried about their three vehicles, but ultimately loaned them to several people who lacked transportation and were seeking to flee Irma.
“It was a win-win for us,” Kathleen said. “That was probably the coolest thing that happened was helping three families get out of danger.”
Kathleen said Tuesday they are uncertain how soon they would return, but guesses some of the worst damage will be cleared before then.
She said she’s eager to start documenting any damage with a camera and will then turn her attention to her neighbors.
“We know we’re going to have an opportunity to maybe help other people and make a difference, too. That’s what Larry and I really want to do. Yes, we’ve lost some things, too, but we didn’t lose our lives,” she said.
They’ll head back to Key West as soon as the airport is open and then wait until they can return to their home.
She said there is no doubt they will return to the Keys to live and rebuild if necessary. She said she’ll move forward with plans to restart her studio even if she has to start from scratch.
There is no doubt in her voice about plans to continue living in Cudjoe Key.
“We wake up to paradise every day. And with that comes a risk,” she said.
