‘I lost everything. But I made it,’ says survivor

Rescuers intensified efforts to find survivors who might be trapped amid the ruins of a small Florida Panhandle community nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael.

One body has already been recovered there, tempers are flaring, and power could be out for weeks. Crews with dogs went door-to-door in Mexico Beach, pushing aside debris to get inside damaged structures in a second wave of searches following what they described as an initial, “hasty” search.

Authorities say there is little doubt the death toll will rise from the storm, which made landfall last week as a Category four hurricane with 249km/ h and heavy storm surge. The tally of lives lost across the South stood at 14.

“Everything is time consuming,” said Captain Ignatius Carroll, of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue task force. “You don’t want to put a rush on a thorough rescue.”

More roads were passable along the storm-ravaged coast as crews cleared downed trees and power lines, but traffic lights remained out and long lines heightened tensions at one of the area’s few open service stations.

“I want you to get back in your vehicle and stop!” one woman shouted at a man accosting her as she tried to squeeze her car between two idling vehicles at a Panama City service station running two fuel pumps on a generator. “You’re an idiot!” the man shouted back.

About 4000 members of Florida’s national guard have been called up to deal with the storm, including 500 added on Saturday. Nearly 2000 lawenforcement officials have been sent

into the Panhandle. Schools will stay closed indefinitely, a hospital halted operations and sent 200 patients to hospitals elsewhere in Florida and in Alabama.

Some residents were packing up and getting as far away as they could.

Jeff and Katrina Pearsey, with a ruined rental home in the Panama City area and no indication of when they could again earn a living, said they were heading to Bangor, Maine, where Katrina once worked as a nurse. Several trees came down on their property, including one that smashed through the roof.

Jeff Pearsey, 48, said: “We’re probably done with Panama City.”

Hector Morales, a 57-year-old cook, never even thought of evacuating. When his mobile home suddenly began floating, he jumped out and swam to a fishing boat and clambered aboard. “I lost everything. But I made it.”