The death toll from Hurricane Michael climbed to 13 Friday as officials in Virginia reported five fatalities tied to the storm that struck the Florida Panhandle before cutting a path of destruction up the Southeast.

One of the victims was Hanover County, Va., Fire Lt. Brad Clark, who was killed Thursday night when a tractor-trailer struck his engine as he was responding to an accident on a rain-slicked road, NBC News reported.

Two other first responders were seriously injured in the crash outside Mechanicsville, as was the semi’s driver.

The four other victims in Virginia drowned, officials said.

In Pittsylvania County, James E. King Jr., 45, of Dry Fork, died after being swept from his vehicle by a flash flood Thursday afternoon, state police said.

A sheriff’s deputy and a resident tried to save him but police said the “floodwaters were too deep and too swift.” His body was found at about 10 p.m.

In Charlotte County, three relatives became stranded in high water on a bridge. One of them, a 17-year-old boy, was rescued by cops and residents, but a man and woman were swept away, state police told The Washington Post.

In Danville, William Lynn Tanksley, 53, died after flooding swept him from his vehicle at about 5 p.m. Thursday, officials said.

Michael has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone over the Atlantic, but officials warned the toll would likely climb higher.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long noted on Friday that rescue teams still hadn’t gotten to Florida’s hardest-hit areas. He said he feared that those who didn’t evacuate had died.

“Very few people live to tell what it’s like to experience a storm surge,” he said.

Rescue teams in Florida did an initial search of 80 percent of the storm-hit areas and found no immediate signs of mass casualties.

But Florida Gov. Rick Scott said officials still “do not know enough” about the fate of those who did not evacuate.

Linda Marquardt, who rode out the storm with her husband, said Michael’s eye passed over their Mexico Beach home, flooding it as 155 mph winds obliterated the city.

“All of my furniture was floating,” said Marquardt, 67. “A river just started coming down the road. It was awful, and now there’s just nothing left.”

An estimated 1.5 million homes and businesses from Florida to Virginia were still without power early Friday.

With Wire Services