Hurricane Irma has come and gone leaving a huge mess behind to be cleaned up by the resilient population here in Florida. Irma takes the blame for 16 reported deaths in the state. Although dollar estimates have come in, they are in no way indicative of the true cost of such a natural disaster. There simply is no way to put a dollar amount on pain, suffering and anguish.

Residents began cleanup even before the storm had made it's exit. Neighbor helping neighbor with head count, supply checks and cleanup assistance. Here are just a very few snaps of damage done to Kissimmee, Florida.

No riding the rails today

The miles of rails running through Kissimmee and the outlying areas run through thick forest and old oak hammocks. The rails are littered with storm damage up and down the route.

Someone else isn't going far, either!

Lots of vehicle damage was seen, mostly from tree damage. I have a pickup truck with a hard case tonneau cover. The locking mechanism was sheared off and the cover was standing open after the storm. I had moved the truck out from under the cover of huge oaks in my yard.

Irma got in on the statue toppling movement

Not to be outdone by the statues, numerous park benches, bus stop shelters, awnings and pavilions also made there appearance in haphazard fashion.

Which one should I choose?

Judging from these three options, I would choose the FedEx box to place my valuable documents into.

My hope is that all Steemians who were in the path of Irma came out with little or no damage. I know many have power outages that may not be resolved as quickly as we like, but hopefully no lasting damage has been done.

Tam

All photos courtesy of Kissimmee Utility Authority