Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times

A drone's-eye-view of Florida Panhandle desolation after Hurricane Michael

Photographs by Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times

Updated 9:18 AM ET, Tue October 16, 2018

Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times

After Michael, the skies cleared and the Gulf waters calmed once again. But the full extent of the devastation wrought by the Category 4 storm -- the pain, sadness and wreckage -- is only now coming to light.

Tampa Bay Times photographer Bronte Wittpenn sent a camera-equipped drone over the area of Michael's ground zero -- Mexico Beach, Florida -- on Friday, October 12, and Saturday, October 13, to let the world see the damage the hurricane inflicted on the region, its people and their way of life.

A truck passes on a makeshift road in Cape San Blas, Florida, on Saturday, October 13, after the town's main road was demolished during Hurricane Michael.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times
This once was a home. Its post-Michael remains are seen from above on Friday, October 12.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times
So little is left. Where homes once stood in Mexico Beach, Florida, debris and destruction clutter the landscape on Friday, October 12 -- two days after Hurricane Michael hit.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times
Even inland, Michael blasted a path of destruction. Farm silos and a flattened roadside structure are seen near Blounstown, Florida, on Friday, October 12.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times
Down amid the rubble, searchers comb through a flattened home in Mexico Beach on Friday, October 12.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times
The road that leads into Cape San Blas, Florida, lays broken in the sun on Saturday, October 13, three days after Hurricane Michael roared ashore.
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times