Local News

Guided only by the red glow emanating  from emergency exit signs and his cell phone's flashlight, Gerald Tinker,  navigates up and down the stairwell of his apartment building.

Tinker, 67, said the Gibson Plaza Apartments in Coconut Grove have been without electricity since Saturday, nearly four days.  Residents at the  mixed-income complex for people over 62,  said they were told a backup generator would kick in should the power go out. Tinker said it's one of the reasons the apartments were appealing to him and many others when they were searching for a home. 

Miami-Dade County has lifted the daily curfew it imposed Sunday after Hurricane Irma.

The 7 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew will not be enforced Tuesday night, county spokesman Michael Hernández said. The city of Miami also did away with its curfew Tuesday.

Some cities, however, still have curfews set to give cleanup crews more space to work on restoring power and hauling away fallen trees and other debris.

Monroe County, home to the hard-hit Florida Keys, set a dawn-to-dusk curfew Tuesday to keep people away from dangerous roads and let cleanup teams drive in.

Local curfews were in place throughout the state, much of the Florida Keys remained closed and millions of people continued to lack electricity as cleanup work expected to reach into the billions of dollars began Monday in the wake of deadly Hurricane Irma.

While businesses slowly reopen, the state is dealing with widespread flooding, from storm surges of 4 to 8 feet along both coasts to flash flooding in Northeast Florida.

Miami Beach will reopen up all its causeways Tuesday at 8 a.m.— four hours ahead of schedule.

City officials say most of the beach is still without power, and that there may be downed power lines and blocked roadways remaining. Inoperable traffic signals should be treated as a four-way stop.

The Miami Beach Trolley service will also begin service at 8 a.m. There will be free parking in municipal garages until Sept. 18.

Thanks to Hurricane Irma, most of Comcast's thousands and thousands of southern Palm Beach County accounts have been without Wi-Fi and cable television since Sunday afternoon as the company works on a damaged fiber line on one of its "primary hubs," spokeswoman Mindy Kramer said Monday morning. She said it's believed to be the largest outage in the county.

Kramer said engineers still don't know what caused the break but have found it and are working on repairs. She said Comcast lost power but has backup generators. 

She said some homes lost only Wi-Fi.

Miami-Dade and Broward public schools will remain closed until further notice due to recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma.

Among the reasons, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a press conference Monday that the schools had to undergo safety inspections.

Miami-Dade public schools will almost certainly remain closed through Wednesday, and may stay shuttered until Monday as the system unwinds shelter operations at dozens of schools, cleans up damage and monitors the status of the county’s largest single workforce.

Water boil orders have been issued for parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, and all of Monroe county. Water in Miami-Dade county is currently safe to drink.

Boil orders apply to water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth, making ice and washing dishes; boiling is not required for water used for bathing and general cleaning, Broward county officials advise. Water is safe when it has been boiled for 60 seconds, or been treated with household bleach. 

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay has declared a curfew in the Florida Keys between dusk and dawn after devastating Hurricane Irma swept through the island chain.

As Hurricane Irma continued to lash South Florida Sunday, Palm Beach County first responders were maintaining order despite some challenges.

Palm Beach County officials say 43 people have been charged with violating a county-wide curfew in effect due to Hurricane Irma. And at emergency shelters, opioids have been a problem.

“There have been two overdoses,” said Aronberg. “[The victims] have been saved and treated medically.”

Aronberg said the two victims were revived with an overdose reversal drug.