'And now there's just nothing left'

Michael's toll hits 14, with more expected

The death toll from Hurricane Michael climbed to 14 Friday as officials in Virginia reported five fatalities tied to the storm that struck the Florida Panhandle before cutting a path of destruction up the Southeast.

Michael has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone over the Atlantic, but officials warned the death toll would likely increase.

The search-and-rescue effort continued Friday night in Florida communities hit hardest by the hurricane as an official leading the effort said at least one body was found in Mexico Beach on the Gulf coast.

Miami fire chief Joseph Zahralban said searchers found the storm victim among the devastation in Mexico Beach and surrounding Bay County.

Rescue teams said they had wrapped up their initial rapid searches and had completed 40 percent of more-intense secondary searches including inspecting collapsed buildings.

They hope to finish during daylight hours Saturday.

But Florida Gov. Rick Scott said officials still “do not know enough” about the fate of those who did not evacuate.

Linda Marquardt and her husband managed to survive when Michael’s eye passed directly over their Mexico Beach home, which was inundated by surging water as 155 mph winds obliter- ated much of the city.

“All of my furniture was floating,” said Marquardt, 67. “A river just started coming down the road. It was awful, and now there’s just nothing left.”

In Virginia, flash floods were responsible for several deaths Thursday. In Danville, Jennifer Bjarnesen Mitchell, 60, was drowned when floodwaters swamped her vehicle, and Wil- liam Lynn Tanksley, 53, died after flooding swept him from his car, officials said.

Hanover County, Va., Fire Lt. Brad Clark was killed when a tractor-trailer struck his fire engine as he was responding to an accident on a rain-slicked road, NBC News reported. Two other first responders and the truck driver were seriously injured in the crash.

In Pittsylvania County, James E. King Jr., 45, died after being swept from his vehicle, police said.

In Charlotte County, three relatives became stranded in high water on a bridge. One of them, a 17year-old boy, was rescued, but a man and woman were swept away, police told The Washington Post.

An estimated 1.5 million homes and businesses from Florida to Virginia were still without power early Friday.

IN RUINS: Pete Miller stands atop his flattened home in Mexico Beach, Fla., Friday, a day after Tom Bailey took his bicycle through the obliterated town.