MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Residents of Florida's Mexico Beach worry that the town's "mom-and-pop" character could become a casualty of Hurricane Michael.

The town of about 1,000 people was nearly wiped off the map by the storm last week. It wrecked the mayor's hardware store and the only grocery in town. It splintered beachfront condos and smashed the inn where tourists have stayed for four decades. It reduced seafood restaurants to rubble and literally broke the bank.

Mayor Al Cathey liked to boast that "there's no corporate America" in Mexico Beach. Local ordinances have kept out high-rise condos and resort hotels.

But now, the mayor and others fear that could change if property owners choose to sell rather than rebuild.