FORT MYERS, Florida, Aug 14 (AFP) - Hurricane Charley left a trail of devastation across Florida on Saturday, with authorities fearing a significant number of dead in a coastal town that bore the brunt of its terrifying force.
Authorities ordered 60 body bags and two refrigeration trucks for victims at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda. Officials said there were "many" fatalities but did not give a toll.
The hurricane, the worst since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, destroyed thousands of homes, left more than one million people without power, blocked roads and tore through airports, flipping over planes.
Thousands of National Guard, military and police were brought from outside the state to help the rescue operation. President George W. Bush was to inspect the stricken zone on Sunday.
Four people were confirmed dead from isolated accidents in the state, where the hurricane hit late Friday, in addition to the four dead in Cuba, which was in Charley`s path earlier in the day.
One child was crushed by a truck which overturned onto a car. Another person was electrocuted.
After roaring across Florida, the weakening hurricane went out into the Atlantic Ocean before returning to hit South Carolina and head up the East Coast, where tens of thousands of people were evacuated.
Inhabitants of Punta Gorda, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the Gulf Coast city of Fort Myers, were taken by surprise when the storm veered farther south than expected.
Despite evacuation orders, many chose to stay in their flimsy wooden homes in trailer parks around Punta Gorda, in Charlotte County, which stood no chance against the fierce winds.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush said this contributed to the tragedy.
Wayne Sallade, director of the Charlotte County emergency management office, told reporters: "We have many, many people reported as missing, and we have many other fatalities across Charlotte County."
The governor said it was impossible to give a casualty toll, as rescue workers had not been able to reach all of the stricken areas.
National guardsmen and sheriffs` deputies were guarding the site of the Punta Gorda park, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had taken control of medical care in the town after its hospital shut down.
Several thousand national guard, military and police were drafted into the state. The US Red Cross also said it had started a "disaster relief operation."
"Punta Gorda appears to be ground zero," said Craig Fugate, the Florida state director of emergency management.
Charley packed winds of 145 miles (235 kilometers) per hour as it crossed Florida, heading from Punta Gorda through Orlando and then Daytona Beach on the Atlantic coast.
One Punta Gorda hospital recorded a gust of 173 miles (276 kilometers) an hour before its wind meter was torn down.
The Florida Power and Light electric company said 1.3 million people were without power and the number was expected to rise as people return to their homes.
Roads were blocked with palm trees, power and telephone poles and vehicles, including heavy trucks, which were turned over by the winds.
"Right now, it`s mass damage," said Kimberly Casale, a city administrator in Arcadia, just inland from Punta Gorda.
Heather Stone in nearby Cape Coral said she and her family had hidden under a mattress in a bathroom for several hours. "There`s a hospital about 100 yards from our house, and in the maternity ward the roof blew off while a woman was in labour."
At Charlotte County airport, about 25 small planes were blown over. An airport in Lake Wales near Tampa, farther up the coast, suffered similar damage. Planes at Orlando International Airport were also flipped over like toys.
Officials urged about 1.4 million people to flee ahead of the storm. But the mandatory evacuation order was widely ignored.
Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center in Florida told CNN "warnings were given about 41 hours in advance, and that is what we aim for. Having a major hurricane is a rare event and people are not ready for this."
Connie Larsson, whose mobile home in Punta Gorda was wrecked, said: "I had planned to stay here, but the manager of the park said it was not a good idea. I stayed with friends from church, but they have taken a lot of damage."
Charley is Florida`s worst natural disaster since Hurricane Andrew ripped through the southern part of the state in 1992, killing more than a dozen people in Florida and going on to kill 14 people elsewhere in the United States and in the Caribbean.