In photos: Scenes of destruction after hurricane Michael hits Florida

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Rescue personnel perform a search in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Rescue personnel search amidst debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A boat sits amidst debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
An entire neighborhood between 40th Street and 42nd Street in Mexico Beach, Fla. was wiped out by Hurricane Michael, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. The devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael came into focus Thursday with rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and rescue crews began making their way into the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who may have stayed behind. (Michael Snyder/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP)
In this image made from video and provided by SevereStudios.com, damage from Hurricane Michael is seen in Mexico Beach, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. Search-and-rescue teams fanned out across the Florida Panhandle to reach trapped people in Michael’s wake Thursday as daylight yielded scenes of rows upon rows of houses smashed to pieces by the third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the continental U.S. (SevereStudios.com via AP)
Firefighter Austin Schlarb performs a door to door search in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Michael Williams, 70, waves to passing motorists while looking for food and water as downed trees prevent him from driving out of his damaged home with his family in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Springfield, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. “I don’t know what I’m going to,” said Williams. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
In this image released by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a CBP flight crew conducts a flyover of the Florida panhandle in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael as the storm left a swath of destruction across the area near Panama City, Florida, on October 11, 2018. – Search and rescue teams faced a second day of sifting through the ruined landscape left by Hurricane Michael on Friday as the death toll rose to 11. (Photo by Glenn FAWCETT / US Customs and Border Protection / AFP) /
A man works though the remains of an apartment in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. – Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

 

Mexico Beach used to be a little beach town of about 1,000 people, popular with vacationing families and retirees.

But Michael changed it all, wiping away everything in a stretch of 100 yards or so between the beach and the coastal highway.

Wooden beach bungalows that were built without foundations were simply swept away, leaving empty lots.

Remnants of everyday life — sinks, washing machines, bikes — are scattered all over the muddy ground.

Houses that were built with foundations remain standing but their doors and windows were burst open by the force of the most powerful storm to hit the US since 1969 and the strongest ever in this part of Florida.

At the marina, pleasure boats were tossed around like toys, some of them ending up all the way up on the highway.

Most of the town’s residents heeded evacuation orders, but some stuck it out – and said the storm’s passage was sheer hell

Here are some of the scenes of destruction in that area after hurricane Michael’s fury.

(with Agence France Presse, AP and AFP photos)