Plane owners survey damage to an aircraft that was overturned and destroyed on at the Charlotte County Airport after Hurricane Charley struck southwest and central Florida Saturday in Punta Gorda, Florida. Officials in Florida said at least 15 people were killed and many more were unaccounted for after Hurricane Charley left a path of destruction across Florida then continued north and struck the Carolinas. PHOTO: AFP

While Florida tallied the devastation from Hurricane Charley, another hurricane and a tropical storm gathered strength in the Atlantic Ocean Saturday.

Hurricane Danielle formed way out in the Atlantic, with 75 mph (120 kph) winds, and was around 375 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands by 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT). It was not expected to take a course that would bring it near land.

Tropical Storm Earl, meanwhile, took aim at the Windward Islands and was expected to grow into a hurricane as it spun across the Caribbean Sea toward western Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico.

The five-day forecast issued by the US National Hurricane Centre put Earl on a path similar to Charley's, with the storm approaching the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday. But forecasters cautioned it was too soon to predict where it would go from there.

"The projections out that far can have large errors," said hurricane center meteorologist Dan Brown.

Tropical storm warnings were posted Saturday for the Caribbean islands of Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and St. Lucia, alerting residents to expect storm conditions within 24 hours and prepare for up to 5 inches (13 cm) of rain.

AP adds: Rescuers rummaged through a chaotic landscape of pulverised homes and twisted metal left by Hurricane Charley on Saturday, racing to find bodies and help thousands left homeless by its vicious winds and rain. Fifteen people were confirmed dead.

As a weakened Charley churned up the East Coast and was downgraded to a tropical storm, newly sunny skies revealed its destruction in Florida, where emergency officials pronounced it the worst to wallop the state since Hurricane Andrew tore through in 1992. Twenty-six deaths were directly linked to Andrew, which caused $19.9 billion in insured property losses.

"Our worst fears have come true," said Gov. Jeb Bush, who surveyed the devastation by helicopter. The Category 4 storm was expected to cost Florida "at least several billion dollars," said Loretta Worters, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute.

State officials confirmed 13 deaths based on reports from medical examiners. The hardest-hit areas appeared to be Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte in Charlotte County.