“We traded the mountains for the water,” Rachel likes to say.

But it hasn’t always been easy.

“We were in Katrina as well,” she said.

The Fletchers have lived in Florida, on and off, for 10 years. Jason is a military man, so the family has moved around a bit.

A satellite photo taken after Hurricane Irma shows damage to the roof of the Fletchers’ home in Key West. (Images provided)

“After our third time moving [to Key West] I told him I wasn’t going to leave this time,” Rachel said.

Since fleeing their Florida home ahead of Irma last week, the Fletchers have wondered what was happening to their house and their neighbors.

“The only news we have,” Rachel said Wednesday, “is NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. We found an aerial shot of our house so we could zoom in. I can see we have some roof damage, but the house is still standing.”

Rachel’s adult sons, Christjen and Alex, live in Florida as well, but they are currently staying in Rainbow Lake.

“Christjen lives right about where the eye hit,” Rachel said. “Alex lived in Key West, too.” The Fletchers’ youngest, Ayden, is 12 years old. “Ayden’s school is closed indefinitely.”

The Fletchers’ home is seen before Hurricane Irma. (Photo provided)

The Keys are a chain of islands at the tip of the Florida peninsula. Key West, the farthest one a person can drive to, is south of where the eye of the Category 4 hurricane hit, Rachel said.

“I have a lot of friends down there,” Rachel said. “So far there’s no cellphone contact with neighbors.”

The electricity is out, so even if the cellphone towers were up and working, people wouldn’t be able to charge their phones yet anyway.

But on Wednesday night, Rachel received one text from a neighbor, Lynda Vignault: “We’re fine. Limited property damage no water and no wifi or electric. 2 hours per day of water.”

The family left the Keys separately, with Rachel leaving last, on Friday.

“My parents were like, ‘You haven’t left yet?'” she said.

When Rachel finally drove north, enough people had evacuated already that the traffic was not bad.

“The big concern was gas,” she said. “The more north we got, the lines at the gas stations were huge. Jason drove down [to meet me] and brought about $400 worth of gas in his truck.”

Rachel is an X-ray technician at Lower Keys Medical Center, which has not reopened.

“There’s only three hospitals in the Keys,” she said.

So far, only the northernmost one is open, but Rachel is ready to get back to work.

Having lived through Katrina, the Fletchers prepared well in advance for Irma. They have a generator, a portable air-conditioning unit and two weeks worth of food.

“When we go back, we’re pretty well set,” she said. “Now we’re regaining supplies.”

“She’s a very smart young lady,” said her aunt Holly Hahne of Lake George. “She’s got a lot of common sense. She’s fun-loving and responsible — of course, she’s from Saranac Lake!” (Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Hahne is Rachel Fletcher’s mother.)

As of Thursday, the road down to the Keys was only open as far as mile marker 73. The mile markers start at zero in Key West itself. While the bridges have all been deemed safe, workers still have a great deal of debris to move off the highways before they open them to the public.

“They want to make sure relief efforts get through first,” Rachel said.

In the meantime, the Fletchers are living with their in-laws.

“We’re trying not to disrupt their lives too much,” Rachel said, “but they don’t have animals.” The Fletchers’ menagerie includes three birds, three cats and three dogs.

“As soon as the road opens, we’re going to head back home,” Rachel said.