Early Hurricane Damage Reports

The Associated Press reports:

The death toll rose Saturday, as a county official confirmed additional deaths, guards watching over stacks of bodies at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda, and hundreds of people missing. Three other deaths were confirmed earlier. More than a million utility customers lose power.

- In Charlotte County, which includes Punta Gorda: Three hospitals out of service because of damage. Emergency Operations Center not operational. Two shelters significantly damaged. Sheriff's office destroyed. Seven fire stations destroyed. Numerous trailer homes destroyed.

- In Desoto County, which includes Arcadia: Reports of roof blown off at Turner Agri-Civic Center, a hurricane shelter where 1,200 people had gathered. Twelve injuries. Top floor of hospital damaged. Emergency operations center roof blown off. Water tower collapsed.

- In Highlands County: Radio tower knocked down.

- In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers: County property appraiser estimates 250,000 buildings structures, homes and churches were damaged, causing just under $3 billion in damage.

- In Osceola County: Four wells at water treatment plant shut down. Multiple fire stations damaged.

UPDATE: CNN reports:

More than 1.8 million people were reported to be without power, and widespread building damage and uprooted trees were said to have been sighted from the Fort Myers area in the southwest -- where the hurricane slammed ashore Friday afternoon -- to Daytona Beach, where it moved off the state's eastern coastline just before midnight.

[. . .]

Just north of Fort Myers, Charlotte County emergency authorities reported several fatalities in Punta Gorda after what may have been a tornado spawned by Hurricane Charley uprooted several mobile homes, according to the county's emergency director, Wayne Sallade.

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To the south, in Lee County, the sheriff's office reported one hurricane-related death in North Fort Myers when a man in his early 20s stepped outside during the full force of the hurricane to smoke a cigarette.

A fatality was reported ahead of the storm in Orange County, when high wind blew a moving van into oncoming traffic on a freeway Friday afternoon, killing a young girl and seriously injuring seven others, according to Kim Miller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that Hurricane Charley killed at least 15 people in Florida:

Hurricane Charley's devastating tear across Florida flattened oceanfront homes, killed at least 15 people and left thousands more homeless before the weakened storm pushed north and struck the Carolinas on Saturday.

[. . .]

Ten deaths had been confirmed in Charlotte County, said Wayne Sallade, the county's director of emergency management, but no exact death toll was available.

"Not hundreds. I would hope that it would be limited to dozens, if that," Sallade said. Deputies were standing guard over bodies because they were in areas not immediately accessible by ambulances.