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Article snippet: CUDJOE KEY, Fla. — You pay a price for paradise. In the Florida Keys, it’s hurricanes. The stretch of highway that leads to the continental United States’ southernmost point was riddled Monday with Jet Skis, seaweed, and the occasional refrigerator. In a few places, the ferocious force of water from Hurricane Irma’s onslaught Sunday washed-out chunks of the two-lane highway. The National Guard was at work a day later clearing the trees that blocked the road. The landscape is a seemingly random mix of the lost and the saved — homes and businesses unscathed in the wake of a storm that appeared to pick and choose its targets, taking a roof here and a yacht there, leaving roads littered with random debris. All of the power and much of the water system is out. The Department of Defense, which is helping with the relief effort, said because of damage to the island and its water system, it may be necessary to evacuate the 10,000 people who did not evacuate before the storm. Many are in desperate straits. “There’s nothing left for us,” said Kris Mills, 38, a disabled combat veteran who lives here, where the eye of the storm passed, about 110 miles southwest of Miami. “Everything that wasn’t packed in my truck is gone. We lost it all.” Almost all of the houses where Mr. Mills lives are still standing. Many are on stilts, so residents are likely to be pleasantly surprised when they return to find things still standing. But Mr. Mills lived on the bottom floor, so the storm ... Link to the full article to read more