By Mark Curnutte, Enquirer staff writer
and Enquirer wire services

Vern and Carol Daykin ride their golf cart through Maple Leaf Estates in Port Charlotte, Fla. They moved to the location in 1992, the day before Hurricane Andrew struck Florida. The Enquirer/MARK CURNUTTE

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Rescue teams searched door to door through gutted buildings, mangled vehicles and splintered trailers Saturday as reports of deaths emerged from the coast-to-coast calamity delivered by Hurricane Charley.

The statewide death count stood at 17, according to local officials, and seemed likely to rise. Scores were left injured, tens of thousands homeless, hundreds of thousands dazed.

"Our worst fears have come true," Gov. Jeb Bush said after completing a helicopter tour of the region. "Clearly, there was major devastation."

His brother, President Bush, planned to survey the region today.

COMPLETE COVERAGE

• Hurricane Charley updates • Photos of damage News coverage in Florida: • Fort Meyers News Press • Florida Today • USAToday coverage

HOW TO HELP

Hurricane Charley has devastated many parts of Florida, and those looking to help victims of the storm can do so, even from afar. The Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross said financial donations can help provide victims with vouchers or debit cards for food, shelter and counseling services for families. Call 1-800-HELP-NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (in Spanish) to donate to the Red Cross, or send a donation tagged for the Florida disaster to 720 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. The Red Cross has also set up a hotline for those who have family members in disaster areas. The number is 1-866-GET-INFO (1-866-438-4636) and the Red Cross will track down family members for concerned loved ones. Many local volunteers, including two members of the local Red Cross and nearly 160 Cinergy employees, have already been dispatched to disaster areas. Marwood Hallett, president of the Ohio Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters, said that similar to the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, specialists from Ohio will be sought for help. Although relief organizations in Florida may not need an extra pair of hands, Tristate residents can help by donating to their favorite disaster-relief organizations, Hallett said. Ari Bloomekatz

Ten deaths were reported in Charlotte County, including Punta Gorda, the disaster's apparent epicenter. The county's emergency manager said he ordered 60 body bags, hoping they weren't all needed.

The governor called Punta Gorda "a community destroyed, in essence" by Charley's 145-mph wind and 10-foot storm surge.

Rubble sprawled across nearly the entire bayside city. A steeple served as testament to where a church building once stood. Cars parked in what had been a garage were piled atop each other, the floors that once separated them no longer in existence.

"This town got pulverized," said resident Jerry Luyk.

And that was just one corner of a vast swath of Southwest and Central Florida littered by catastrophe - an area 200 miles long and at least 30 miles wide. Another hard-hit area: mobile-home parks and other facilities in and near the ranching town of Arcadia.

Access to many remote areas remained blocked by debris or police, but the extent of at least some of the damage came into focus when viewed by air, sea and, in some cases, land.

Visible were caved-in roofs, a new inlet created by 200 yards of submerged beach and twisted boat docks on Captiva Island, a collapsed furniture store and trailer parks reduced to rubble in Port Charlotte, gutted condominium buildings and wrecked shopping centers in Punta Gorda.

Entire mobile-home parks were flattened near Arcadia, a historic ranching town about 30 miles from the coast. The town's business district appeared to be in good shape, but more fragile buildings like the rodeo arena and county fairgrounds sustained severe damage.

The storm finally retreated from Florida Saturday morning, refueling over the Atlantic for an assault on the rest of the East Coast. It struck South Carolina with 85 mph winds Saturday before weakening into a tropical storm.

Damage estimates stretched well into the billions. More than 1.3 million customers endured a second day of power blackouts. Water service did not exist for residents of Arcadia, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.

Fort Myers and the rest of Lee County reported $3.3 billion in damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said that 80 percent of the buildings in Charlotte County - and every mobile home - sustained damage. Dead cows wrapped in barbed wire sprawled beside roads in DeSoto County.

Adding to the misery: Thunderstorms swept the area Saturday, raining on homes without roofs and people without homes.

Rescue workers from Miami-Dade County, Broward County and other areas flocked to the region and searched for the dead and injured. Long convoys of utility repair trucks approached from the south and north. Two thousand National Guard troops and 800 police officers patrolled or guarded the area.

At least 63 shelters served 12,000 suddenly homeless people and many others sought lodging with friends, relatives or in the few local hotels that withstood the storm. State officials said they delivered 3.6 million pounds of ice and 1.9 million gallons of water to Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Arcadia and other cities. About 15,000 people live in Punta Gorda, which sustained a direct strike when Charley strengthened into a fierce Category 4 hurricane, changed direction at nearly the last minute and slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast at Sanibel Island and Port Charlotte.

Vern and Carol Daykin were among those who weathered the storm in Port Charlotte. They moved to Maple Leaf Estates in September 1992, the day before Hurricane Andrew smashed the southeast corner of the state.

Friday, the Daykins found themselves in the eye of Hurricane Charley, the strongest storm to slam Florida since Andrew. Their home was one of 2,250 damaged in this retiree trailer park built around an 18-hole golf course.

The Daykins were upset late Saturday afternoon when they learned they had missed the buses that would have taken them 30 miles north to Venice, where they had hoped to find a hotel room.

"It really was a beautiful neighborhood until about 3 o'clock yesterday," Carol Daykin said.

A palm tree lay horizontally on the roof of a friend's trailer.

In Port Charlotte, where Carol Daykin said electricity would not be restored for three weeks, the Daykins were among hundreds of residents who weathered the storm in a brick community shelter.

"We found out two hours beforehand that it was coming," said Vern Daykin, 78, a retired topographer who moved with his wife from Toronto, Ontario.

"Oh, the sound. Everything was banging up against the building. We knew it wasn't good."

Interstate 75 North from Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda was packed with residents seeking shelter and electricity. Dozens of trucks from Pike Electric in Mt. Airy, N.C., along with fleets of tree-removal trucks, chippers and cherry pickers lined the highway south.

Six cell-phone towers, which once stood at the intersection of I-75 and Kings Highway in Port Charlotte, were bent over Saturday like toothpicks. Power lines stretched across Kings Highway, and two-dozen people stood in line outside the closed Tractor Supply store for a chance to buy electric generators.

Across the highway from the store, in the parking lot of the Kings shopping center, several dozen ambulances, National Guard trucks and fire trucks mustered, their crews awaiting instructions from the command center.

Down the street at Maple Leaf Estates, John Blair, 60, was getting some unexpected help from four members of a church group.

Pastor Ken Mahan of Above and Beyond Youth Ministries in Boca Raton, Fla., drove up and offered assistance with three of his parishioners. They spent almost an hour ripping what remained of Blair's carport from his home, allowing him to get his golf cart out.

Blair did not go to the shelter when the storm hit. He wrapped himself in a mattress and huddled for about 45 minutes on the floor in the corner of his home farthest from the wind.

He spent Friday night at home alone and would spend Saturday night there, too. "I've got to protect my property," the retired cabinetmaker said.

Outside, the yellow ribbon from a small palm tree was missing. Blair put it there in honor of his son, Eric Blair, who is in his second tour of duty in Kuwait.

"The worst part about having no power is I'm missing his (phone) call today," John Blair said.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com