NORTH BAY VILLAGE, FLA. (WSVN) - Hurricane Irma did its damage to South Florida — downed trees, power lines and roofs were ripped apart.
A long clean-up process began, Monday morning, the day after Irma made its greatest impact in Miami-Dade County. The hurricane spilled storm waters into homes and created winds that broke construction cranes, among other things.
Florida Power and Light has also begun working on restoring power to over 800,000 Miami-Dade residents.
Over the weekend, wind speeds were recorded at 70 miles per hour in Downtown Miami, which caused storm surge and debris to fly.
Not only did debris get knocked around Miami-Dade, but two construction cranes also were seen dangling due to Irma’s intense winds. The first crane collapsed near 30th Terrace and Bsicayne Boulevard. The second was knocked down near Biscayne Park.
“I was just riding the storm out, like many people here in Downtown Miami,” said resident Gideon Ape, who heard the crane crack. “I heard a loud crack, and then like a boom that followed that. I looked out the window and looked up and I saw some remnants of a crane falling down to the building next to me.”
In Brickell, lots of water has since evaporated after being submerged in flooding for the majority of Irma. Cars were seen driving along Brickell Avenue in what was once feet of water.
Storm surge was at one point so intense that whitecaps were seen on the water. “It was a lot of water,” said a resident. “Yeah, definitely a new experience for me in Brickell.”
Residents were reporting that water rose from Biscayne Bay in just 45 minutes.
Residual damage was found throughout the county, as well, with water ripping through a dock in Miami and an elementary school sign toppled over in Hialeah.
Trees were also downed, some onto vehicles parked outside of home. At a North Miami home, water severely flooded a backyard. “It’s getting higher and higher,” said a resident.
In Homestead, trees were uprooted, picked up by the wind and tossed.
Transformers blew and power lines were downed, causing the sky to light up.
Officials from both Miami-Dade and Broward counties are expected to give press conferences to update their residents on openings, closures and outages.
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