(CNN) In the darkest days after the storm, when the basic comforts many take for granted -- power, water, toilets, contact with the outside world -- were wiped out by Hurricane Irma, the Conch Republic took care of its own.

With roads and airports wrecked and waters near the shoreline littered with dangerous debris , rescuers and emergency officials struggled to reach the Middle and Lower Keys by land, sea or air.

Residents who stayed found themselves with no means of communication.

Amid those conditions, neighbors in the Florida Keys put their own interests aside to help each other -- and one act of altruism fed into the next.

A line to the outside world

Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Children clean a dirty mattress from a flooded home in Immokalee, Florida, on Thursday, September 14. Hurricane Irma laid waste to beautiful Caribbean islands and caused historic destruction across Florida. The cleanup will take weeks; recovery will take months. Hide Caption 1 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida On September 14, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and first lady Melania Trump hand out food to people impacted by Hurricane Irma in Naples, Florida. Hide Caption 2 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Debris litters the area around a group of homes in the Florida Keys on Wednesday, September 13. Hide Caption 3 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Lake County jail inmates fill sandbags in Astor, Florida, on September 13. Hide Caption 4 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A classic Volkswagen sits in floodwaters September 13 in Middleburg, Florida. Flooding from the Black Creek topped the previous high-water mark by about 7 feet. Hide Caption 5 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida James Wade checks for water-damaged items as floodwaters recede in Middleburg on September 13. Hide Caption 6 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Floodwaters surround vehicles in Callahan, Florida, on Tuesday, September 12. Hide Caption 7 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Jose Encarnacion pulls a chicken from a cage as he gathers belongings from his flooded house in Bonita Springs, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 8 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Joseph Dupuis III stacks boxes off the floor in his parents' water-logged apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 9 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Motorists in Estero, Florida, fill gas cans September 12, moments before police shut the station down because of a curfew. Hide Caption 10 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Mike Gilbert and his daughter Brooke embrace in front of a relative's destroyed condominium building in the Florida Keys on September 12. Hide Caption 11 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Members of the US Coast Guard operate in floodwaters during rescue missions in Hastings, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 12 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Waist-deep in floodwater, Shelly Hughes gets her first look at the inside of her camper in Arcadia, Florida, on September 12. Hide Caption 13 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, a house slides into the Atlantic Ocean in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Monday, September 11. Hide Caption 14 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Richard Shieldhouse maneuvers through storm-surge floodwaters in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 15 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Mario Valentine sits in his badly damaged home in Immokalee on September 11. Hide Caption 16 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Boats are partially submerged in Key Largo, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 17 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Chris Stokes works in the mud as he helps clean up damage to his father's convenience store in Everglades City, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 18 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Ashley Tomberg drags a tree branch from the roof of a neighbor's house in Gainesville, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 19 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Floodwaters inundate a car in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 20 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A crocodile appears at the Dinner Key Marina in Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 21 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida John Duke tries to salvage his flooded vehicle in Jacksonville on September 11. Hide Caption 22 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A van sits in a sinkhole that opened up in Winter Springs, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 23 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People check out floodwaters at Jacksonville's Memorial Park on September 11. Hide Caption 24 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Kelly McClenthen and her boyfriend, Daniel Harrison, walk through floodwaters in Bonita Springs on September 11. Hide Caption 25 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A truck drives through a flooded street in Key Largo on September 11. Hide Caption 26 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A man walks by damage in Palm Shores, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 27 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Catharine Taylor Woods cleans up a broken awning outside her building in Wauchula, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 28 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida The roof of a home is damaged in Marco Island, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 29 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Rick Freedman checks damage to his neighbor's home in Marco Island on September 11. Hide Caption 30 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Boats are partially submerged in a marina in downtown Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 31 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People step out of their flooded home in Fort Myers, Florida, on September 11. Hide Caption 32 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A felled tree blocks a street in downtown Miami on September 11. Hide Caption 33 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Irma damaged this gas station roof in Bonita Springs. Hide Caption 34 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Michele Snelling sleeps on couch cushions next to her 4-month-old daughter, Lauryn, at a middle school in St. Petersburg, Florida, on September 11. The school was filled with evacuees. Hide Caption 35 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Hotel guests navigate a dark stairwell after they lost power in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Hide Caption 36 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People in Cape Coral, Florida, tend to a car that flipped over during Hurricane Irma on Sunday, September 10. Hide Caption 37 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A manatee lies stranded September 10 after waters receded during Irma's approach in Manatee County, Florida. Hide Caption 38 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida High winds split this large tree in half in Fort Lauderdale. Hide Caption 39 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida An American flag is torn as Irma passes through Naples on September 10. Hide Caption 40 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A sheriff's deputy walks through a shelter in Naples after the power went out on September 10. Hide Caption 41 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A police officer walks over debris after a tornado touched down in Palm Bay, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 42 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Yaya Lopez holds her fiance, Howard Lopez, while they sleep in a middle-school hallway in St. Petersburg on September 10. Hide Caption 43 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Geoff Rutland, a local volunteer from Crossing Jordan Church, helps other residents get ice from a vending machine in Tampa, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 44 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida PJ Pike checks on his boat and one belonging to a friend in Fort Myers. Both were sitting in mud at their moorings due to an unusually low tide on September 10. Hide Caption 45 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People walk past a building in Miami where the roof was blown off by Hurricane Irma on September 10. Hide Caption 46 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida An abandoned car sits in floodwaters during a storm surge in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 47 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Fallen trees block a parking lot in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 48 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Sailboats moored near Watson Island ride out the winds and waves on September 10. Hide Caption 49 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Members of the Blinckman family use their personal devices in a stairwell utility closet as Hurricane Irma went over Key West, Florida, on September 10. Hide Caption 50 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Evacuees watch the weather from a shelter in Naples on September 10. Hide Caption 51 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Heavy winds and rain blow through Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 52 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel fights fierce winds and flooded streets while reporting in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 53 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A man records the gusty winds going through downtown Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 54 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida A tree lies on a pickup truck after being knocked down by the high winds in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 55 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Hotel guests eat breakfast by lamplight after the Courtyard Marriott was left without power in Fort Lauderdale on September 10. Hide Caption 56 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida Part of this crane tower collapsed in Miami on September 10. Hide Caption 57 of 58 Photos: Hurricane Irma slams Florida People sit in the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center as Irma approached Miami on Saturday, September 9. See Hurricane Irma's impact on the Caribbean Hide Caption 58 of 58

Bascom Grooms, 45, a local real estate agent who rode out the storm, realized last Monday that his family's Key West business, The Bike Shop, still had an operable land line. It dawned on him and his brother, Justin, who helps run the shop, "There's a lot of people who are trying to get in touch with their relatives. ... Nobody knows if they're all right."

At the time, the only source of information in the Lower Keys was US1 Radio, which had taken several precautions to remain on air. The radio station gets its name from the 113-mile highway connecting Key West to the tip of Florida; Irma damaged the road so badly that portions weren't passable for days, cutting off Key West and other keys from the mainland.

Grooms gave the radio station a call around 10 a.m. Tuesday to announce that The Bike Shop would let locals use its land line from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

"I wasn't even off the phone yet with the radio station and people started walking in the door," he said.

Many of the people filing into the shop "would instantly break down and start crying" the moment they heard a loved one's voice on the other line, Grooms said. The queue grew longer.

Grooms felt like a jerk, he said, because with roughly 100 people in line he had to institute a 30-second rule to make sure everyone had a chance to make a call. The three hours the Grooms brothers had scheduled turned to nine. Grooms estimates about 400 used the phone that day. Another 100 stopped by to use the phone Wednesday, he said.

Many residents arriving at the shop tried to pay the brothers, who refused at first. But they kept insisting, so the brothers decided to collect the funds and donate them to hurricane relief. By Wednesday evening, they had collected $682 in a yellow envelope.

'They wanted us on air'

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Rick Lopez, the general manager for Florida Keys Media, which counts US1 Radio among its eight radio stations in the Keys, said the station couldn't have continued broadcasting without the dedication of its staff and the thoughtfulness of its audience.

Without power or cell service, Keys residents tuned in from their cars or on battery-powered radios to get news from the islands, including vital information such as where to pick up food and water. Lopez worries that there would've been "mass chaos and panic" had the station not been there to "provide that comfort, that voice to the people," he said.

More than once, Irma threatened to shut the station down.

Lopez had sent his family to North Carolina ahead of Irma. He and a skeleton crew of six people stayed behind to run the station. They knew Irma would bring destruction, so they set up a generator and a special "studio-transmitter link" between US1 Radio's building on Sugarloaf Key and its transmission tower.

The night before Irma's landfall, Lopez went outside to check the link, which was strapped down to a handrail, when "I hear this huge pop, like BAM! Half the railing is busting off and it was about to take the STL with it."

An engineer tied it back down with a rope "and somehow that damned thing held, by the grace of God," Lopez said Sunday. "We would've been done. We'd still be off the air right now."

When Irma hit, the radio station's staff lost phone and email service. The station kept operating, but to disseminate important information, city and state officials had to physically drop by the station to get on air.

"We're totally oblivious to anything else going on in the world. We had no idea where Irma went after it hit us," Lopez said.

To keep the station running, someone had to fill the generator with special fuel -- known as REC-90 -- every 10 hours or so. Soon, the station's staff found itself low on gas.

Lopez went on air and said the station would be happy to pay if anyone could drop off some REC-90, which is also used in marine engines. A marina on Stock Island, about 15 miles away, and several residents answered the call.

"Citizens were siphoning fuel out of their boats," he said. "They were dropping off cans. People wouldn't let me pay. They wanted us on air."

Brothers' change of plan

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Kimmy Beier is one of Lopez's employees who helped keep the station running.

A local on-air personality who wears many hats for Florida Keys Media, Beier and her husband lived on Big Pine Key with their "babies," two rescued Pomeranians, Phoebe and Julius.

Irma made landfall on Cudjoe Key, about 10 miles west of Big Pine. As Beier worked at the radio station, the Category 4 hurricane destroyed her home, sending 4 or 5 feet of storm surge through it, rendering it "uninhabitable," she said.

"It was covering the dresser," she said, explaining that her husband was able to salvage only some clothes and tools.

She believes it was Wednesday night -- she can't be sure because the days have been running together -- that Bascom and Justin Grooms arrived at the radio station and handed her an envelope containing $682.

"The donations that people insisted on leaving, their family wanted to bless us with," she said, tearing up as she recounted the moment. "I cried and they wouldn't let me on the mic. ... It's hard to talk when you're crying."

Beier, who has called the Keys home for a decade, has been sleeping on a single mattress in the radio station's promotion room, the crate housing Phoebe and Julius nearby.

She and her husband will put the $682 toward the deposit and first month's rent on a new apartment once some semblance of normality returns to the Keys, Beier said. As of Sunday, she said, Sugarloaf Key remains without running water, and US1 Radio continues to broadcast information about relief efforts.

"We're trying to take care of the community. I don't have a whole lot of time to think about our needs," she said.

Like many in the Keys, Beier believes the archipelago will bounce back stronger because of the generosity and perseverance of its residents.

"My gratitude goes out to the entire Florida Keys community," she said. "It's been an outpouring of love."