PORT ALABAMA, Alabama Sept 15 (AFP) - The first bands of Hurricane Ivan lashed the Alabama shores Wednesday afternoon, giving the few residents who did not evacuate coastal areas a first taste of the killer storm's fury.
Sheets of rain came crashing down, fierce winds whipped up huge waves and surge waters started seeping into some homes that were shuttered up in readiness for the hurricane.
In Port Alabama, on the Mobile Bay where Ivan was expected to make landfall during the night, roads were washed out, small boats sank in a canal and waves swept debris ashore.
Police sealed off the scenic Dauphin Island near Mobile and even emergency workers readied to evacuate as the center of the storm and the eyewall's ferocious winds neared the coast from the Gulf of Mexico.
"We're not going to risk being here when it hits. It's going to be a huge one," a sheriff's deputy said as he struggled to remain standing when a powerful squall slammed ashore.
Already fierce winds gradually picked up and were expected to reach full hurricane strength in the night.
Virtually all residents of barrier islands and low-lying areas along Mobile Bay fled their homes ahead of the storm, and the city of Mobile itself was virtually deserted.
But two couples braved the worsening weather, walking a dog along the bay near Port Alabama.
They decided to ride out the storm in their house, saying it was high enough above the water level to be considered fairly safe, though authorities insisted they were taking a major risk.
"We'll stay, but we're worried to death," a woman said, declining to give her name after defying a mandatory evacuation order.