Residents return to view Charley devastation

Residents left homeless by Hurricane Charley’s 145 mph winds dug through their ravaged homes, sweeping up shattered glass and rescuing what they could as US President George Bush promised rapid delivery of disaster aid.

With temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit (30Cs) and humidity that made it feel hotter, people waited with carts in long lines to buy ice.

Supermarkets gave away water in five cities as just under a million people remained without power and 2,300 stayed in emergency shelters.

“It’s as close to hell as I can think of,” said Khoum Khampapha, a resident of Easy Street in Port Charlotte, as he looked around his neighbourhood of gutted homes. “It’s just breathtaking.”

As the storm weakened off the coast of New England, Bush surveyed the devastation in Florida, where the storm caused billions of dollars in damage and killed at least 16 people.

Earlier, Charley killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica.

Emergency officials pronounced Charley the worst hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Back then 26 deaths were directly linked to Andrew, which caused €14.8bn in insured property losses.

The hardest-hit areas appeared to be the retirement community of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte in Charlotte County, though federal officials expanded the disaster aid zone to 25 counties.

US president George Bush promised rapid assistance for Florida, where officials estimated damages of up to €12bn to insured homes alone.

When asked about why he made such a quick trip to Florida in this election year, Bush said: “If I didn’t come, they would’ve said we should have been here more rapidly.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was sending teams of medical, urban rescue and communication workers at least 60 mobile homes containing cots, blankets, meals, portable toilets, wash kits and other necessities and truckloads of water and ice.

FEMA said the state has requested catastrophic housing for 10,000 people, and more than 4,000 National Guard troops have been activated.

“It’s going to be awesome – shock and awe – that’s our goal,” said Governor Jeb Bush, the president’s younger brother.

JB Hunt, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the agency had established eight mobile kitchens and five feeding centres that will be capable of serving 9,000 meals a day by Monday.

“This is the largest Red Cross response since September 11,” she said.

Officials have said hundreds of people were unaccounted for but still had no official count yesterday.

The search for missing people was slow in some areas because downed power lines and debris was making the search dangerous, law enforcement officials said.

After slamming into Florida with winds reaching 145 mph and a surge of sea water of up to 15 feet, Charley hit open ocean and made landfall again in South Carolina’s Grand Strand resort region.

It moved into North Carolina and up the eastern seaboard as a tropical storm before being downgraded to a depression.