Captiva Island, Fla. ? A tree lay across the terra cotta tiled roof of his house, and the screened pool enclosure out back had blown away. Still, Memo Suarez counted himself fortunate.

“This is a hundred times better than I thought,” Suarez said between snapping pictures of the Spanish-styled ranch house. “To see what happened in Punta Gorda … we got lucky.”

The sense of relief was widespread Wednesday as residents and business owners finally were allowed to return to Sanibel and Captiva, after five days of worrying about the damage Hurricane Charley might have inflicted when it roared across the barrier islands on Friday.

Most found that their buildings had survived the Category 4 storm relatively unscathed.

“It was paradise,” said Patti Thorson, whose five-bedroom house sustained comparatively little damage. “Now it’s like a war zone.”

After anxious days staying in shelters, hotels or the homes of friends or family, islanders lined up early Wednesday along the causeway to Sanibel for a first look at their homes.

“It was frustrating, waiting,” said Cliff Nolan. “Nobody knew what had happened, and we didn’t really get to see any pictures of the houses in our area.”

Police checked for photo identification and gave returning residents information on water quality, garbage collection and building permits — along with lists of licensed roofers and general contractors in the area.

A few people had never left. Kim Blaesing, a worker at Castaways Resort, stayed on Captiva through the storm.

“Everything was flying everywhere,” said Blaesing, who hunkered down in a housekeeping closet. “We saw a manatee come up out of the bay. It was like a cow in a tornado.”

It was the tangle of debris covering the islands that kept officials from allowing locals back until Wednesday. Crews continued to work on downed trees and utility poles as residents drove gingerly toward their homes.

Many found that they had running water — which officials warned was not safe to drink — but no power. Some roofs showed damage, and several screened enclosures were crumpled, but most structures appeared unharmed.

Sanibel Island, Fla., resident Mark Ryan ducks under a fallen tree that rests across the upper deck of his home. Residents of Sanibel and Captiva islands were allowed to return home Wednesday, five days after Hurricane Charley hit. Ryan credits the tough building codes for the reason his home, and the vast majority of all structures on the island, withstood the force of the storm.