Mexico Beach, Florida, was crushed by Hurricane Michael on Oct. 10 as video footage emerged of shattered houses floating in storm surge water.
Houses are almost completely underwater, and the only thing visible are home’s roofs in some areas, CNN reported.
The storm at one point had 155 mph winds as it made landfall, making it a strong Category 4 system.
“It feels like you don’t know when the next tree is going to fall on top of you because it’s blowing so ferociously,” said Port St. Joe Mayor Bo Patterson in a Reuters interview. “You just don’t know when the next one is going down. It’s very, very scary. We have trees being uprooted, heavy, heavy rain.”
“This happened so quickly, we weren’t exactly prepared,” he said.
“Anybody that doesn’t evacuate that experiences storm surge doesn’t typically live to tell about that story,” Long said.
Around 4,000 people have entered 70 evacuation shelters, FEMA officials told ABC, which added that power could be out in some places for weeks.
President Trump had approved an emergency declaration for Florida, which allows the federal government to provide resources and funding during the hurricane.