Search-and-rescue teams have begun finding bodies in and around Mexico Beach, the ground-zero town that Hurricane Michael obliterated, according to an official as the scale of the storm's fury became ever clearer.
The US death toll from the hurricane has risen to 16, law enforcement officials said.
Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban, leader of a search-and-rescue unit that went into the flattened town, said: "There are individuals who are deceased. We are working to identify them."
Mr Zahralban spoke as his team — which included a dog — was winding down its two-day search of Mexico Beach, the town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map when Michael blew ashore there Wednesday (local time) with devastating winds of almost 245 kilometres per hour.
Blocks and blocks of homes were demolished, reduced to splintered lumber or mere concrete slabs by the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental US in nearly 50 years.
As the catastrophic damage across the Florida Panhandle (the region in the north of Florida) came into view 48 hours after the hurricane struck, there was little doubt the death toll would rise.
How high it might go was unclear. But authorities scrapped plans to set up a temporary morgue, suggesting they had yet to see mass casualties.
State officials said that by one count, 285 people in Mexico Beach defied mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind. Whether any of them got out at some point was unclear.
Thousands trying to get in touch with residents
Emergency officials said they have received thousands of calls asking about missing people.
But with mobile-phone service out across vast swaths of the Florida Panhandle, officials said it is possible that some of those unaccounted for are safe and just haven't been able to contact friends or family.
Across the ravaged region, meanwhile, authorities set up distribution centres to hand out food and water to victims.
Some supplies were brought in by trucks, while others had to be delivered by helicopter because of debris still blocking roads.
Residents began to come to grips with the destruction and face up to the uncertainty that lies ahead.
"I didn't recognise [anything]. Everything's gone. I didn't even know our road was our road," said 25-year-old Tiffany Plushnik, an evacuee who returned to find her home in Sandy Creek too damaged to live in.
When she went back to the hotel where she took shelter from the storm, she found out she could no longer stay there either because of mould.
"We've got to figure something out. We're starting from scratch, all of us," Ms Plushnik said.
President Donald Trump announced plans to visit Florida and hard-hit Georgia early next week, but didn't say what day he would arrive.
"We are with you!" he tweeted.
Shell-shocked survivors who barely escaped with their lives told of terrifying winds, surging floodwaters and homes cracking apart.
Emergency officials said they had completed an initial "hasty search" of the stricken area, looking for the living or the dead, and were now launching into more careful inspections of ruined buildings.
State officials still 'do not know enough' about people's fate
Governor Rick Scott said state officials still "do not know enough" about the fate of those who stayed behind in the region.
"We are not completely done. We are still getting down there," the Governor added.
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long said he expects to see the death toll rise.
"We still haven't gotten into the hardest-hit areas," he said, adding with frustration: "Very few people live to tell what it's like to experience storm surge, and unfortunately in this country we seem to not learn the lesson."
Long expressed worry that people have suffered "hurricane amnesia".
On the Panhandle, Tyndall Air Force Base "took a beating," so much so that Colonel Brian Laidlaw told the 3,600 men and women stationed on the base not to come back.
Many of the 600 families who live there had followed orders to pack what they could in a single suitcase as they were evacuated ahead of the storm.
The hurricane's eyewall passed directly overhead, severely damaging nearly every building and leaving many a complete loss.
The elementary school, the flight line, the marina and the runways were devastated.
"I will not recall you and your families until we can guarantee your safety. At this time I can't tell you how long that will take, but I'm on it," Colonel Laidlaw wrote.
"We need to restore basic utilities, clear our roads of trees and power lines, and assess the structural integrity of our buildings."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-13/rescue-teams-starting-to-find-bodies-after-hurricane-michael/10373226
Home 
