by Patrick Moser
MIAMI, Sept 3 (AFP) - Florida late Friday braced for Hurricane Frances as first gusts of winds rattled the US state hours before the expected landfall of the storm that pounded the Bahamas but lost some of its steam.
At least one person died in the Bahamas when the hurricane tore through the Atlantic island chain, authorities said.
The storm weakened overnight and further in the afternoon, but as it crept toward Florida, authorities warned it could still cause major damage.
Strong gusts of winds already slammed onto south Florida Friday afternoon, downing power lines, uprooting trees and sending palm fronds and other debris flying onto highways.
In Miami-Dade and neighboring Broward county, 200,000 people were without power Friday.
A total of 2.5 million people in south Florida have been told to leave their homes, and at least half of them did so, aware of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Charley that killed more than 20 people in southwestern Florida last month.
At 11:00 pm Friday (0300 GMT Saturday) the storm was 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the Florida coast and 110 kilometers (70 miles) east-southeast of Grand Bahama island, the National Hurricane Center said.
Tropical-force winds were expected to slam south Florida early Saturday, but the full fury of Frances was not expected there until later in the day.
Earlier, Frances pounded Eleuthera after lashing San Salvador, Cat Island and the Turks and Caicos.
Initially a category-four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which goes up to five, it was downgraded to a level two Friday, packing winds of 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour.
But Governor Bush warned earlier that Frances "is very unpredictable ... there are some indications that as it slows down it might gather steam and also gather strength."
And he pointed out that because it is a slow-moving storm -- with a forward motion of nine kilometers per hour (six miles per hour) - Frances "will be with us for a long, long while."
Frances was also a huge storm, with hurricane-force winds extending 175 kilometers (110 miles) from the center. Tropical storm-force winds reached almost 325 kilometers (200 miles) at the outer perimeter of the storm.
The Florida governor requested federal assistance to help reconstruction after the anticipated devastation.
"This event will cause substantial damage to the coastal communities in eastern Florida," the governor said in a letter for President George W. Bush, his brother.
He said that Frances could generate "900,000 tonnes of debris and inflict damage on an unprecedented scale."
The US Census Bureau estimates that 6.3 million people live in areas of the Florida coast where the hurricane might make landfall.
Federal authorities are coordinating the deployment of emergency supplies and personnel, including urban search and rescue, medical and veterinary assistance teams, medical supplies, and generators.
The US Coast Guard has moved its vessels to safe harbors and positioned its helicopters and planes so they can rapidly be deployed in search and rescue as well as recovery operations.
A number of tourists were put up at emergency shelters after their hotels shut. Those hotels that remained open were packed to capacity.
Miami`s normally crowded airport was virtually deserted as numerous flights had been canceled.
Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach`s international airports shut down, and the Port of Miami, a usually a busy cargo and cruise ship harbor, also was closed.
But a few surfers did grab the opportunity to catch some unusually high waves.