PAISLEY, Fla. – At least 19 people died, many others were injured, hundreds lost homes and thousands remained traumatized as a vicious swarm of thunderstorms and predawn tornadoes ripped through Central and Northeast Florida on Friday.

Two of the dead were high school students and one was an elementary school child, officials said. More than 1,500 buildings were destroyed or damaged in Lake and Sumter counties, and at least 100 in Volusia County.

Authorities accompanied by rescue dogs searched for people trapped in debris. Shelters opened throughout the region. At least 13,000 customers still were without power at 1 p.m.

Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency for Volusia, Sumter, Lake and Seminole counties. “Our priority today is search and rescue,” he said.

The fierce squalls – including a “super cell” that forecasters said generated at least one tornado with winds greater than 100 mph – attacked under cover of darkness, but unsettled weather persisted into the afternoon.

The wind splintered houses and flattened a church built to withstand 150-mph winds. Falling trees crushed cars and trucks. Clothing, bedding and other debris dangled from branches.

“It’s widespread devastation,” said Kevin Lenhart of the Lake County emergency management office.

Tornadoes or apparent tornadoes were reported near Frostproof in Polk County, near Wildwood in Sumter County, near Weirsdale in Marion County and in rural Lake County.

Parts of the area resembled South Miami-Dade County after it was bulldozed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Another historical footnote: Friday’s storms struck on the ninth anniversary of Florida’s ferocious “Groundhog Day Storm” of 1998.

Officials in Lake County confirmed 13 deaths near the community of Lake Mack and the nearby town of Paisley and six in or near Lady Lake, about 50 miles north of Orlando. In addition, Lake County authorities could not account for two people missing near Lake Mack.

Among the dead: a male freshman from Umatilla High School, a 17-year-old female student from Leesburg High School who lived in Lady Lake, and a 7-year-old boy from Spring Creek Elementary school near Paisley, officials said. None were immediately identified.

The Lady Lake Church of God was demolished, its pews, altar and Bibles left in a jumbled mess, according to The Associated Press. The 31-year-old, steel-reinforced structure also served as an emergency shelter and was built to endure 150-mph winds, the Rev. Larry Lynn told the AP.

After touring Lady Lake, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said: “It looks like a total war zone, 300 yards wide.”

Several miles northwest of Lady Lake, a sprawling retirement community called The Villages absorbed a direct hit from at least one tornado.

Up to 500 houses were destroyed or heavily damaged and cars were tossed 100 feet or more. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported in The Villages. About 50,000 people live in the area, which stretches from Lake County into Sumter County.

“It sounded like a jet was landing on the roof of my house, and I knew that was trouble,” Beth Braun, a resident of The Villages, told Fox News Channel. “I spent the next 30 to 45 minutes in my hallway.”

She said her house emerged undamaged, “but just a mile or two south of me, the damage begins and it gets worse as you go south and it’s quite extensive.”

Other reports from the region spoke of people trapped inside crushed mobile homes, a tractor-trailer upended on Interstate 4, numerous traffic accidents and many trees downed. The interstate was shut for three hours.

At least 69 houses were damaged near New Smyrna Beach and other parts of Volusia County, according to local authorities.

The line of severe weather – advancing from the Gulf of Mexico toward the Atlantic coast and carving a path through the center of the state – propelled destructive thunderstorms through many other areas and lingered for hours.

Residents reported heavy rain, sustained winds of 30 mph with higher gusts and quarter-inch hail.

The storms struck about 3 a.m. in one of the hardest hit areas, near Lady Lake.

Mobile homes “are severely damaged,” said Christie Mysinger, a spokeswoman for the Lake County sheriff’s office. “We also have a lot of structural damage to houses.”

Search and rescue teams worked to free survivors.

“They are having to get emergency equipment to help lift walls to search for injured persons,” Mysinger said. “So there is some severe damage out here.”

Power was out and phone lines down in many areas, authorities said.

David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told Florida officials that he is processing the state’s application for emergency assistance. Paulison’s home in Davie took a hit from Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., said that a 30-person assessment team was in place “and trucks filled with water, food and ice are headed to the devastated areas.”

The outbreak of severe weather reminded many meteorologists and others of the Groundhog Day Storm nine years earlier.

Forecasters had predicted the possibility of a repeat performance by nature this year, noting the existence of the same El Nino conditions that helped fuel the 1998 storms.

El Ninos, which occur when water in the eastern Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm, can bend the jet stream and propel strong cold fronts into and through Florida.

When a cold front meets warm, tropical air – as one did in Central Florida Friday morning – severe weather often erupts.

“This was a pretty classic El Nino event,” said Robert Molleda, the National Weather Service’s warnings coordinator for South Florida.

He noted that three weeks after the Groundhog Day Storm, a bevy of tornadoes pummeled Central Florida, killing 42 people. There is a lesson there, he said.

“This is the time of year – February through April and even into May – when we can get tornadoes in Florida from these cold fronts, especially in an El Nino year,” Molleda said. “We need to continue to be alert.”