02 Hurricane Michael DRONE RESTRICTED
A drone's-eye-view of Florida Panhandle desolation after Hurricane Michael
Bronte Wittpenn/Tampa Bay Times

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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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