The roads leading into Key West were blocked for a few weeks to regular traffic, but he was open for business three weeks after the hurricane hit. He describes the two days they spent locked in the pub as “fun, but exciting and nervous at the same time.” When the storm had passed, he likened the island to a “zombie apocalypse” because of how quiet it was. “It was scary, you know, and a lot of people evacuated and thought this was the end of the world.” “The hurricane was bigger than the state of Florida,” says Schroeder. He also housed 35 people in the guesthouse at no charge-primarily his employees, their partners, their pets, and patrons of the bar who either didn’t make it out of the island on time, or stayed because of the high costs to evacuate. Despite evacuation warnings, Schroeder decided to board up his home and hold fort in the guesthouse portion of the pub, since it’s about 13 feet above sea level on the island’s high ground. Joseph “Joey” Schroeder owns the New Orleans House and Bourbon Street Pub, which are part of the same complex on Key West’s famous Duval Street. Harles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/TNS via Getty Duval Street as Hurricane Irma approaches.Īs a result, false perceptions about the severity of damage in Key West continued to grow, and while there was accurate reporting about Irma’s effect in the area, there were plenty of misleading stories which continued to fuel misinterpretations.
