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Authorities fear that some evacuees may be buried under stacks of concrete, wood and mutilated metal in Florida.
Bay County, which was hit hard, tied 12 people to the Category 4 storm, up from Monday's four. Details on how people died were not immediately available.
The mountain of debris scattered around the neighborhoods complicates rescue and recovery efforts. Across Bay County, more than 2,500 structures were damaged and at least 162 were destroyed, authorities said.
Bay County Sheriff, Tommy Ford, said he did not have a specific number of missing people due to lack of communication in the affected areas.
Governor Rick Scott's request for a county transition shelter has been approved, and federal officials will provide more options to families, including hotel rooms, condos and other rentals.
Everyone has not seen what's left of their house
In the destroyed city of Mexico Beach, some residents visited their properties, examined the damage and recovered objects. Many others are expected on Wednesday.
Although they are not allowed to stay for the moment, they can show their identity cards to the National Guard soldiers and go to their quarters to get an idea of what they are doing. they will have to do or want to rebuild.
In some neighborhoods, only concrete slabs and piles of wood remain, and residents need to guess where their homes are.
Chad Frazier has many reasons to be devastated. Her business was destroyed by the hurricane. His son's college in Panama City was also wiped out.
But Frazier said that he was too grateful to be upset. Immediately after the hurricane, strangers came from outside to bring food and water.
"The people who came were the greatest blessing for us," he said.
While he was standing in front of a mountain of debris, Frazier said that he was coming out well, thanks to the outpouring of generosity.
"My store is down, (but) I'm not in a bad mood," he said. "It just made my faith grow."
The cell phone service is back on
After days without cell reception, some residents were able to use their phones this week.
In some areas, people used their cell phones for the first time when a company brought a flying cow – a Cell On Wings – a drone serving LTE site.
Although the service has resumed in some places, some still have no cell reception.
The governor asked the telecommunications companies to provide a restoration plan.
In addition to the lack of cellular service, more than 158,000 customers in the electricity sector do not have access to electricity, including nearly 140,000 in Florida.
Some still have no food or power
People in the most affected areas depend on food and water destroyed by the air to survive.
About 1,200 people are in shelters, state officials said. Drivers have been queuing for hours to refuel.
Some school districts are still closed
The Florida Department of Education stated that many schools in the affected areas were not being fed and that the authorities were trying to quickly restore the system. As a result, several school districts are closed until further notice, including Bay, Calhoun and Washington. The Panama City campus of Florida State University is also closed until further notice.
The detainees were evacuated
The Florida Prison Service Department announced the evacuation of more than 4,000 inmates as a result of structural damage to the facilities caused by the hurricane.
They included Bay Institution, which evacuated 959 inmates, while Gulf Institution and its annex transferred 2,618 inmates to other institutions.
Joe Sutton, Martin Savidge and Holly Yan of CNN contributed to this report.
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