Dear God! I have 2 sets of Great Aunts and Uncles that have mobile homes on a canal of the Peace River in Punta Gorda. My Grandparents wintered in the same place for years until their death so I'm very familiar with the area. My mom thinks her aunts and uncles were spending the summer north and don't stay in PG this time of year, I hope so.
OTOH, my mom's brother, wife and kids live in Port Charlotte and she's been unable to reach them all day.
I lived in Delray Beach FL when Andrew came through in Homestead in '92. I went through that area a couple of months later to get to Key West. It was completely leveled. It looked what I imagine a third world country would look like after a nuclear detonation.
MKM
The major problem is, it sounds like a lot of people down there did not evacuate. If the core of winds hit an area with a lot of people milling around... a lot of those people are no more.
Lots of prayers going to that area of FL.