Traffic jams as Floridians are allowed to return home as heat wave closes in: Keys and Miami homeowners return to clean up as 6.5million people are still without power – leaving them without air conditioning to face 90-degree temperatures

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With Hurricane Irma safely out of the state, most Floridians will be able to return home today – but it will be a uncomfortable homecoming because more than half the state is still without power. Electricity isn’t just a convenience in the Sunshine State. It’s a necessity in the summer when the heat can turn deadly hot. And that’s just what it’s forecast to do this week, with temperatures expected to reach into the 90s. The bad news is that an estimated 6.5million Floridians are still without power, and officials say it could take weeks – not days – to fully restore electricity.
Cars line up to return to the Florida Keys on Tuesday in Homestead, Florida. Parts of the lower Keys are still inaccessible because a road was wiped out during the storm

Generally though, most Floridians were just happy they were finally able to return home after Irma displaced them into shelters and the homes of their friends and family members for days. Carin and David Atkins of Pinecrest, Florida, were waiting out Irma on Monday, planning to leave their Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning to head back down the Florida peninsula with their children, Molly and Thomas.

The Atkins said they have hotel reservations near Cape Canaveral, more than halfway back to their home outside Miami.’I’ve called to confirm they have power,’ David Atkins said, adding that some businesses near their home have power as well.Carin Atkins said they can live without power at home for several days, recalling that they went 47 days without power after Hurricane Wilma in 2005. They evacuated, she said, only because of the threat of rising water from a storm surge that didn’t reach to their home.Other evacuees still aren’t as sure of their return.