PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. ? Still smarting over the loss of their homes, Hurricane Charley’s victims turned out by the hundreds in 90-degree heat Tuesday to cope with the storm’s latest blow to their lives — the mass shutdown of businesses that has left them without jobs.

“Charley laid me off,” said Rose Vito, a 57-year-old telemarketing assistant in red-plaid pajamas, lined up outside the Employ Florida mobile benefits station in Port Charlotte. “Without phones and computers, they can’t function.”

None of the choices on the unemployment form — suspension, temporary layoff, discharge/performance — seemed to fit. So in the space that demanded “reason for separation,” she wrote: “Hurricane Charlie.”

For thousands of Floridians, Tuesday was a day when services cut off by the rampage of Charley’s 145-mph winds last week were being gradually — and sporadically — restored. Federal disaster assistance money began flowing, state officials cracked down on price gouging, and postal workers handed out mail.

The death toll rose from 19 to 20. An 86-year-old man who had evacuated his home fell and died in a motel.

Before lashing Florida on Friday, Charley killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica.

As bill delivery began Tuesday, many storm victims — most without power, water or phone service — worried about what Charley and its aftereffects would do to their savings.

In Punta Gorda, one of the hardest-hit areas, Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said $2 million had been issued to victims and more was on the way. More than 23,500 applications for aid had already been received.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge toured the damage in a helicopter. Thompson announced more than $11 million in help, with the majority of the money going to support early-childhood education centers.

About 493,000 people remained without power Tuesday, state officials said, holding to predictions it could take weeks to fully restore electricity.