Dozens of pastel homes were reduced to rubble by high winds and fast-rising water late Thursday in the normally sun-drenched community of Dekle Beach, Fla. Shocked residents returned on Friday morning to survey the damage.

“That’s my house in the middle of the road,” Laurie Lilliott cried out while walking down the town’s main street, stepping over wreckage. “My bed! I’m looking at my bed.”

The small community of less than 200 people, where Ms. Lilliott’s family has lived since the 1940s, was decimated by Hurricane Helene. The eye of the storm passed near their neighborhood, part of the town of Keaton Beach, where about 12,000 people live southeast of Tallahassee.

ImageJames High, a resident of Dekle Beach, worked to remove a downed tree blocking the road to his community. Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times

The community includes several dozen homes, in many case elevated more than 10 feet off the ground. It was hard to tell exactly how many had been destroyed, but the remains of many were strewed along the ocean’s edge.

Ms. Lilliott’s home was torn apart. She sifted through its remains, picking out her son’s Legos and her daughter’s mattress. Down the road, her husband, Hugh Lilliott, asked if anyone recognized a wooden porch swing that was tangled up on someone’s roof.

Leslie High’s home withstood the storm, although its stairs and balconies had not. It was standing, but inaccessible. “We’ll be fine,” her husband, James High, said to her.

“Yeah, but look at our people!” she said, crying.

Ms. High, who is a high school teacher in the nearby city of Perry, had helped retrieve a neighbor’s family photos, which had been scattered across the neighborhood.

Her husband built their house in 2021. It was raised high and reinforced with rebar, brick and metal. It held against the wind, he said, but the water took out part of the exterior. Some older homes nearby could not resist Helene’s onslaught.

ImageMr. High and his wife, Leslie High, stood amid their ravaged neighborhood. Their house survived, but the stairs to it were gone. Credit...Paul Ratje for The New York Times

A powerful surge brought down houses and threw them against others, creating a domino effect. The debris along the shore mixed with water, sand and grass.

The larger town of Keaton Beach suffered major damage as well, worse than in the so-called “Great Storm” of 1993, whose large waves, spray and hail caused widespread damage in the Gulf region.

Jared Hunt owned the local gas station and lives on Dekle Beach. “Not 20 homes are left,” he said.

His gas station was smashed to bits, and the pieces were thrown across the road.

Wiping his brow and picking up a baseball cap out of the watergame ape, Mr. Hunt found a vestige of his sense of humor. “Want a hat?” he said. “I can give you a great discount.”

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