Paisley, Fla. ? Fed up with hurricane warning after hurricane warning in South Florida, retired school bus driver Jamie Wright, 55, moved inland a year ago, hoping to find a peaceful life a little farther from the seasonal threat of such storms.

“She was talking about how she loved living on the lake. She opened a fruit stand. She was just real happy to be here,” said her son, Bryan McKiness, 31.

In the still of night Friday, though, Wright and her 49-year-old boyfriend, Donald Lamond, were among 20 people killed by thunderstorms and at least one tornado, packing winds up to 200 mph, that plowed through central Florida, demolishing homes, churches and livelihoods with only a few moments’ notice.

“We survived Hurricane Andrew in Homestead, and it looked just like this,” Bryan McKiness said Saturday as he collected mementos from the mess that was once his mother’s home.

Amid persistent rain showers, neighbors, jail inmates and National Guard troops picked up and pulled tarps over damaged homes. President Bush designated four counties disaster areas, releasing millions of dollars in aid for recovery and individual assistance.

“It makes you sick to your stomach for what we saw,” David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said after touring the area Saturday morning with Gov. Charlie Crist.

Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders said Saturday the death toll was not expected to increase.

The identified victims ranged from a 92-year-old man to 17-year-old Brittany May, killed by a falling tree that crushed her bedroom.

Few people were awake to hear the warnings sent on radio and TV. Many died in the tiny community of Lake Mack where Wright and Lamond lived.

Sonya McKiness holds a photo of her mother, Jamie Wright, and Wright's boyfriend, Donald Lamond, on Saturday. Wright had fled South Florida a year ago to escape hurricanes, looking for a peaceful life farther north. Wright, 55, and Lamond, 49, operators of a produce stand, were killed in their bed Friday during thunderstorms that chewed through the middle of Florida, killing at least 20 people.

“They were sleeping in the bed, side by side,” said Wright’s daughter, Sonya McKiness, 33, of Homestead.

In the town of Lady Lake, the tornado took Vernon Goney’s life’s work. Goney, 61, lost his home of 33 years and his uninsured nursery in Friday’s storm. The twister flattened 50,000 square feet of greenhouses, destroyed a 40-foot by 90-foot garage and flipped three delivery trucks, adding up to about $500,000 in losses.

He’s wearing clothes borrowed from his son, as the only possessions he was able to salvage was a pair of pants and a belt he was able to put on as the tornado bore down. He planned to call his insurance company that holds a $40,000 policy on his house, but Saturday, he worried about what his future will hold.

“It’s dim. Very dim,” Goney said as he cleared debris from his property with his wife and family members. “I’d like to rebuild, but it takes money to do that.”

Tate Tapscott, 38, said he came across a heartrending scene when he pulled back a pile of debris and found a father and young boy.

“He was still holding his son,” Tapscott said. “You had to just leave them and go find somebody else. There was nothing you could do.”

Lake County officials released a preliminary estimate of $10 million in damage to more than 100 homes. Other than a church in Lady Lake, few commercial or government buildings suffered major damage, said Jerry Smith, the county’s emergency management director.

The governor, handling the first natural disaster since he took office Jan. 2, canceled plans to attend Sunday’s Super Bowl in Miami to stay in central Florida. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league was planning an observance during pregame ceremonies, though the details were being worked out.