Locals relate storm stories
BY STACY RODRIGUEZ
Citizen Staff
With the Atlantic and Gulf ends of Duval Street flooded, a handful of locals were biking, walking and otherwise getting wet around Old Town in the remnants of Hurricane Dennis on Saturday afternoon.
John Costello, 55, was under the shelter of The Wizard of Odd around 2 p.m., hoping for a store, any store, to open.
“We don’t have a radio in the house,” Costello said. “We have a refrigerator, but no ice, and no batteries.” He said he didn’t stock up on supplies because he didn’t think the storm would be that bad. “It’ll be another dark night at the house if the power doesn’t go back on.”
Costello, who lives around the corner near Grinnell Street, said he had been standing out on Truman Avenue since about 9 a.m.
“It seems a little worse than [Hurricane] Georges,” said Costello, who’s been in Key West eight years and went through the 1998 Category 2 storm. “Everything’s OK, but this is a little worse than I thought it would be — my socks are wet, and that’s a problem.”
Some employees from the Fury Catamaran were biking across Truman on Grinnell Street. “We had to get our friend’s bike,” said 20-year-old Zac Winiger, who moved down from Indiana five years ago. “It was chained across town.”
“We’ve seen a few nasty things,” said Josh Carter, 21, also an Indiana native. “We were curious to see if anything was open.”
“We saw some concrete ripped up down the street,” Winiger said.
Rafael Villa Guzman, 21, came out of his nearby apartment to say hello.
“This is worse than I have seen in Mexico, but it wasn’t that bad,” Guzman said in Spanish.
In Bahama Village, Harvey Sherrard was trying to secure his fence by his Thomas Street house. He scooped up fallen Spanish limes to hand out to passersby. Sherrard, originally from Portsmouth, Va., said he’s been in Key West for 12 years.
“We rode it out in our house,” Sherrard said. “We’ve got sandwiches, but it got a little hot in there when the power went out.
“This wasn’t really a hurricane, if you ask me,” he added. “Just a little water and wind.”
A band of roving partiers were walking down Duval Street barefoot, toting cartons of beer cans. “We found a convenience store that was open!” one of them shouted, pointing toward Greene Street.
Randall J’s convenience store at 505 Greene St. was indeed open, and had been since about 10 a.m., said owner Randy Kreager.
“We’ve been here 12 years,” Kreager said, pointing to one of his workers, Jason Quinlan, behind the counter. “I don’t think this was as bad as Georges.”
Quinlan agreed. “I think this is about two steps down from Georges.”
Popular items being sold for cash at Randall J’s were beer, snacks and cigarettes, the two said. “We were the first open after Georges, too,” Kreager said.
“I got my workers here, too,” he said. “I let them stay in my condo.”
Co-workers Charles Summerson and Scott Green weren’t working, and so not getting paid, either. “We were just bored,” Green said, noting the two normally live on their small boats.
Summerson shrugged off concerns about paying upcoming bills.
“We might be staying in that condo a little bit longer,” he said, laughing.
Outside the store, Brian Carlson posed for pictures by a colorful, painted bike. “I work at 419 Greene, just down the street, at Key West Souvenirs,” Carlson said, noting he’s been in Key West since 1969. “I think this is lasting longer than Georges, but I don’t think the power will be down as long.
“I’ve been in The Citizen 17 times,” Carlson noted as his picture was taken again.
Walgreen drugstore on Duval Street opened about 2 p.m., manager Jason McCoy said.
“People are buying snacks, food, batteries, ice,” McCoy said, who
noted the store doesn’t sell alcohol.
In New Town,
Paradise Liquors opened about noon, owner Lewis Crenshaw said. “I came by about 8 a.m., and I saw my front window was smashed out,” Crenshaw said. “So I went home and got some tools, and came back to fix it.”
Crenshaw said it looked like someone had pried off his protective plywood, smashed the window and “went shopping,” taking lots of bottles of alcohol.
“I called the police, but they said they weren’t taking reports until later,” said Crenshaw, who said he had full power back on at 3 p.m. “Customers started coming up, so I started helping them —
I’m out of ice and food, so they’re buying mainly alcohol and cigarettes.”
Also in New Town, Winn-Dixie was open.
“We opened at 1 p.m.,” said co-manager Juan Villagra. “We’re not planning on closing.” The store had about 30 employees working, and lights and registers were being powered by a generator, Villagra said.
“I’ve been here two years,” the Miami native said. “This is something, but it’s nothing like [1992’s Hurricane] Andrew.”
Stacy Rodriguez is Business Editor for The Citizen. Contact her at
srodriguez@keysnews.com.
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