Intel Mac :: Can't Find Info Stored On Desktop

Had a storm with a power flux and mac went down. Started it back the next day. Ran a first aid on the hard drive system first (all icons on desk top worked fine, showed all software installed, all documents, etc.) Everything checked out.

I have an Iomega external hard drive attached to use as back up. When I ran the first aid on that the system froze. I turned the computer off, waited and then rebooted. Everything came on again, but this time, my screen saver was the original one, not the one I use, all the added icons from the desk top bar were missing, back to the original ones loaded at time of purchase, all my documents are missing, as in everything except for my pictures on the hard drive, all the info stored on my desk top, everything GONE. NO sign of where anything went. The system seems to work fine as far as that goes, but there is none of the materials from the past 5 years of use. Can't even find my emails from Apple, nothing. That's all gone as well. Called up Apple support but because the warranty is no longer in effect, will have to pay for service. Am ready to do that if this fails.

Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), finding stored data on hard drive