MOBILE, United States (AFP) - Flood waters began seeping over the US Gulf Coast, heavy rains began pounding and tornadoes spawned by deadly Hurricane Ivan claimed at least two lives.
The powerful category four storm, downgraded from the maximum category five earlier in the week but still one of the strongest on record, sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing, with Ivan`s eye expected to hit land early Thursday.
After killing more than 70 people across the Caribbean, Ivan claimed two more lives in northeastern Florida as tornadoes ripped across the region.
Florida has already been hit by two major hurricanes in the past month.
Meanwhile tropical storm Jeanne crashed into Puerto Rico Wednesday, threatening to intensify into a hurricane and leaving one person dead, while a Pacific hurricane was moving along the Mexican coast.
But Ivan`s killer winds, blowing at 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour, and torrential rains were the main concern in the United States.
"It`s been 25 years since we had such a huge hurricane. It was long overdue. I`m afraid this is going to be the one," said retiree Rhonda Preston, as she left Mobile with her husband, dog, six cats and their valuables.
Preston said they expected their mobile home and furniture to be destroyed in the storm.
"You don`t want to be here when it hits the shores," said Alabama Governor Bob Riley, urging people who had ignored evacuation orders in coastal areas to get out immediately.
In the Louisiana city of New Orleans, which lies below sea level and is bordered by water on three sides, police drove door to door imploring those still at home to flee to higher ground.
"People are still evacuating. The roads are still quite clogged," said Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider, spokesman for the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Office.
Though the city was expected to be spared a direct hit, Mayor Ray Nagin told reporters that the city was still expecting some hurricane-force winds.
"We will continue to receive tropical storm-force winds and we should be brushed up. Certain points of the city will likely receive some hurricane-force winds as it continues to progress," he said.
With powerful winds spreading out some 420 kilometers (260 miles) from its eye, Ivan was expected to cause widespread damage. At 2100 GMT, the center of Ivan was about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the Alabama coast, moving north at more than 22 kilometers (14 miles) per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
"Some fluctuations of intensity are possible prior to landfall," it said. "But Ivan is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane, category three or higher."
Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were under a state of emergency. Houses and businesses near the coast were boarded up and military bases sent personnel, ships and planes to safety.
Before heading into the Gulf of Mexico, Ivan rampaged across the Caribbean, from Grenada to Cuba.
Grenada was the worst hit by Ivan, with at least 37 people killed last week and up to 90 percent of all buildings damaged or destroyed, officials said.
In Jamaica, police put the death toll at 21 after the powerful winds from Ivan tore down houses, felled trees and destroyed roads in the nation of 2.7 million.
Crude oil prices bubbled higher Wednesday as traders fretted over lost production in the Gulf of Mexico, which is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Ivan.
October crude was trading 47 cents higher at 44.86 dollars a barrel in New York on reports of double-digit oil and gas production cuts as companies shut down off-shore platforms and evacuated drilling crews in preparation for the approaching storm system.
The Coast Guard closed seven ports in four states, including New Orleans, the hub of the third-largest US port complex.
Meanwhile, tropical storm Jeanne crashed ashore in densely populated Puerto Rico on Wednesday, killing two people, dumping heavy rains and flooding low-lying areas, authorities and local media said.
Emergency Service chief Jose Villegas told local media a woman was killed as she fled her home. The storm ripped the zinc roof off her home and the woman, 47, was hit by the falling sheet of metal, he said.
And an elderly man was killed when he from his roof while trying to install storm shutters, the newspaper El Nuevo Dia reported.
US-Caribbean-weather,6thlead
US Gulf Coast braces for fury of Hurricane Ivan
MOBILE, United States (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of residents fled as Hurricane Ivan bore down on the US Gulf Coast threatening more of the deadly devastation it spread across the Caribbean.
Authorities in several states ordered people to evacuate from the path of the storm, which is expected to make landfall early Thursday near the Alabama city of Mobile. Authorities issued a tornado warning for costal Alabama as the first hurricane-fueled twister moved along the area.
Roads out of New Orleans were jammed with cars in the rush to escape the storm.
In Pascagoula, Mississippi, storm surge waters reached several homes and threatened to continue to rise.
Florida has already been hit by two major hurricanes in the past month and a separate storm, Jeanne, crashed into Puerto Rico Wednesday threatening to turn into a hurricane and leaving one person dead, while a Pacific hurricane was moving along the Mexican coast.
Ivan, which has killed at least 70 people in the Caribbean, was the main concern of US authorities however.
"It`s been 25 years since we had such a huge hurricane. It was long overdue. I`m afraid this is going to be the one," said retiree Rhonda Preston, as she left Mobile with her husband, one dog, six cats and their valuables.
Preston said the couple said the couple expected their mobile home and furniture to be destroyed in the storm.
"You don`t want to be here when it hits the shores," said Alabama Governor Bob Riley, urging people who had ignored evacuation orders in coastal areas to get out immediately.
In the Louisiana city of New Orleans, police drove door to door ask those still in their homes to shelter on higher ground.
"People are still evacuating. The roads are still quite clogged," Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Office spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider said.
Though the city was expected to be spared a direct hit, he said most residents who could were leaving.
With powerful winds spreading out some 420 kilometers (260 miles) from its eye, Ivan was expected to cause widespread damage. At 1500 GMT, the center of Ivan was about 380 kilometers (235 miles) south of Mobile, on a track moving north at near 21 kilometers (13 miles) per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Ivan "continues as an extremely dangerous category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale, with maximum sustained winds near 135 mph (217 kph)," it added.
Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were under a state of emergency. Houses and businesses near the coast were boarded up and military bases sent personnel, ships and planes to safety.
Before heading into the Gulf of Mexico, Ivan rampaged across the Caribbean, from Grenada to Cuba.
In the Cayman Islands, which were hit Sunday, dozens of people had not been accounted for, and the British territory remained under a state of emergency. Media reports on the islands said sailors from a British navy vessel were helping keep security amid looting and other troubles.
Grenada was the worst hit by Ivan, with at least 37 people killed last week and up to 90 percent of all buildings damaged or destroyed, officials said.
In Jamaica, police put the death toll at 21 after the powerful winds from Ivan tore down houses, felled trees and destroyed roads in the nation of 2.7 million.
The hurricane was also blamed for five deaths in Venezuela, four in the Dominican Republic, three in Haiti and one in Tobago.
Aid for devastated nations started pouring in, with the European Commission announcing it was sending 1.5 million euros (1.8 million dollars) and Canada pledging 500,000 Canadian dollars (385,000 US dollars).
Meanwhile benchmark oil prices bubbled higher Wednesday as traders fretted over lost oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, which is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Ivan.
October crude was trading 47 cents higher at 44.86 dollars a barrel in New York on reports of double-digit oil and gas production cuts as companies shut off-shore wells and evacuated staff in preparation for the approaching storm system.
The Coast Guard closed seven ports in four states, including New Orleans in Louisiana, which is the hub of the United State`s third-largest port complex.
The complex is a major gateway for commodities such as steel, rubber, zinc, copper, aluminum and grain, but experts say that hurricane-disruption should be minimal.
"The tankers will either ride it out off-shore, or divert to ports down the coast in Texas. Either way, the disruption might delay the supply chain for 48 hours, but that`s not a critical amount of time for these types of materials," said Janet Plume, editor of the trade magazine, Gulf Shipper.