The death toll from Hurricane Michael has jumped to 17 across the US states of Florida, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. The number of fatalities is expected to rise further. The pictures you are watching show the destruction at Mexico Beach in Florida, and how the town looked before and after the storm. Rescuers have been using dogs, drones, and heavy equipment to search for possible victims. About one million homes and businesses are without power from Florida to Virginia. The number of people in emergency shelters is expected to swell to 20-thousand across five states. CGTN's Nitza Soledad Perez has the story from one of communities that will now need to reinvent itself.

While picking up whatever he could salvage, Pastor Geoffrey Lentz tries being the strong man for his community. 

GEOFFREY LENTZ, PASTOR FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, PORT ST. JOE "It's really heart breaking to see the church, the parsonage where I live in shambles. My real concern is so many of the members, of this church and this community that have lost their homes just completely devastated."

Nitza: and how about you, how are you doing?

"I'm hanging in there really. I've collected a couple of pictures from the house, and some important belongings, and my family is safe.

All his possessions scattered, literally everything. Another beach town in the Florida panhandle decimated. In Port Saint Joe, locals say more than 60 percent of the homes won't be salvageable. The storm surge destroyed their foundations. Most of these properties will need to be demolished.

SONY BURNETTE PORT ST. JOE RESIDENT "I've never seen anything like this. I've always sat them out, but this time, if I would have been smarter, I would have gone out of town. I didn't know it was going to be like it was. "

More than a dozen people have died and that number is expected to climb as workers search through the rubble in towns like Mexico Beach. 

NITZA SOLEDAD PEREZ PORT ST. JOE "The storm's brutality stretched across five states (FL, GA, the Carolinas and VA). Over a million people are still without electricity and clean-up is just starting. It will take months if not years for communities like this one to recover a sense of normalcy. "

Florida's Tyndall Air Force Base was also hit by the torturous winds. Every structure on base was damaged or destroyed. Port Saint Joe looks like a ghost town. People here understand they have a huge struggle ahead to rebuild. 

GEOFFREY LENTZ, PASTOR FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, PORT ST. JOE "Everybody is saying we are going to go one day at a time, move forward and make a strong community. We don't know what it will look like, but Port St Joe will come back." 

At least not everything is lost for the pastor. He recovered his wedding photo, a precious memory not even this natural disaster could take away. NSP, CGTN, Port St Joe, Florida.