LIVE OAK, Fla. — Jeff and Marcia Boatright moved into their home on Pineview Circle two weeks ago.

They haven’t even finished unpacking.

Now there are eight trees in their yard after Hurricane Irma blew through the southeast this weekend, including Suwannee County early Monday morning.

A pine tree fell on top of their pool cover but it did not damage the pool.

“We are so grateful that God spared us and our house,” Marcia said.

Early Monday morning, the Boatright’s heard the sound of the first trees falling.

“The sound of it falling was in slow motion and it was dark so you couldn’t see what was happening,” Marcia said.

There was nothing the Boatright’s could do other than wait and pray it didn’t hit the house.

Marcia said the trees landed so close, they could smell the pine tar in the house.

Across the road, Irene McCall has lived in her house for 40 years.

Monday morning McCall and her daughter, Olivia Yanker, of Jacksonville, came out to inspect the damage from the storm.

A tree from the Boatright’s house had fallen into their yard but there was no damage to the house.

Almost 10 minutes after going back inside, McCall said they heard a tree snap.

A pine tree from the front yard had fallen into three bedrooms in the house, including the bedroom where Yanker had slept earlier.

“If we hadn’t came outside, it would have been worse,” Yanker said.

Yanker said they would be packing her mother’s house up and storing it.

“It’s going to take months to repair,” Yanker said.

Yanker added that she is devastated but so grateful it wasn’t worse.

“We are both stressed but we are so lucky,” McCall said. 

As is most of the Suwannee Valley.

While more than 90 percent of the region was without power after Irma blew through with winds registered up to 60 mph at the Suwannee County Airport, according to Sheriff Sam St. John.

But according to James Sommers, the county Public Safety Director, there were no major injuries reported due to the storm.

Just a slew of trees and power lines reported down, according to Sheriff Sam St. John.

He said there are hundreds of trees down and numerous trees on houses.

St. John said all main road in the county are open however there are still secondary roads closed with trees and power lines down.

Sommers said Suwannee County Fire Rescue did have a chicken house fire and a partial structure fire to put out during the storm.

County Administrator Randy Harris said the road department started clearing trees and debris Monday morning and will continue until all roads are cleared.

He said there are delays on some roads due to downed powerlines.

Harris said all waste collection sites will be open until they have a handle on debris.

He added large trailer loads of debris should be dropped off at the landfill, located at 10910 144th St. Live Oak.

While the waste collection sites are remaining open, all the shelters housed at Suwannee County schools will be closed at 3 p.m. today. Evacuees still at the shelters will be transported to the Suwannee County Coliseum.

St. John said any evacuees who discover their home is unsafe can return to the shelter at Coliseum.

It is a pet-friendly shelter.

St. John estimated there were around 1,700 evacuees in the shelters.

The schools will be closed for the rest of the week, the school district announced Monday.

Meanwhile, restoration efforts by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative and other power companies continue.

More than 93 percent of Suwannee and Hamilton counties were without power Monday morning and more than 99 percent of Lafayette County was in the dark.

In the two days since, SVEC has restored power to approximately 50 percent of its consumers who were affected by the storm.

Consumers still out:

Columbia County – 502

Hamilton County – 1,501

Lafayette County – 2,325

Suwannee County – 6,716

With the goal of getting power restored to everyone by the end of the week, SVEC’s crews are being assisted Wednesday by linemen from electric cooperatives in Alabama, Minnesota, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

In total, 111 men are in the field today along with their bucket trucks and other equipment.

Three SVEC substations continue to be out of action due to lack of transmission service. It is hoped that transmission service will be restored to the substations today.

Duke Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light are also still trying to restore power to residents in the Suwannee Valley as well.

Duke Energy consumers still without power are:

Suwannee County – 704

Hamilton County – 621

Lafayette County – 708

Duke Energy said it expects to have power restored in the area at midnight Sunday.

FP&L has 4,500 customers without power in Suwannee County and has not yet been able to restore power to any of them as of 9 a.m. Wednesday.