PENSACOLA, United States (AFP) - US authorities launched a huge relief operation as Hurricane Ivan extended its trail of destruction across southern states, leaving at least 30 dead.
Having killed more than 100 people across the Caribbean and the United States over the past 10 days, the storm weakened but caused more damage and casualties as it moved inland.
Tornado and flood watches were issued in several southern and northeastern states as Ivan moved north.
Thousands of homes were flattened by the third major hurricane to hit the southern United States in six weeks and more than one million homes were without power, according to officials.
Rescue teams carried out house-to-house searches for victims while curfews were imposed in the worst hit areas. Thousands of National Guard and other security forces were sent to help with the rescue operation and prevent looting.
Prison inmates were also press into service to help distribute water and ice near Pensacola in northwest Florida, which suffered the worst damage.
As temperatures soared into the 90s Fahrenheit (30s Celsius), there were huge queues for drinking water.
"Since there is no electricity people will be living out of their coolers for weeks," said Sheriff`s Deputy Jamie Kahalley in Milton, near Pensecola as he watched inmates hand out supplies from the back of trucks.
A 12-foot (four meter) alligator missing from an Alabama zoo caused a scare in the town of Gulf Shores near where the storm hit the US coast.
President George W. Bush, who has declared Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississipi disaster areas, will skip weekend election campaign events to see relief work in Alabama and Florida.
Ivan crashed into the Gulf coast early Thursday with winds of up to 135 miles per hour (215 kilometers an hour) and torrential rains that wrecked houses and buildings and caused widespread flooding.
More than 2,000 national guard troops were sent to Pensacola for the rescue operation.
Many victims of Hurricane Ivan could do little more than weep, unable to believe the devastation as they returned to their wrecked homes and businesses.
"I spent the whole night crying," said Charles Fairchild, who sat outside his Pensacola accounting business, sorting through sodden papers he rescued from the flooded roofless building.
Authorities said the storm killed at least 14 people in northwest Florida, the so-called Florida Panhandle, including four who died when a tornado ripped into a mobile home park in Blountstown, northeast of Panama City.
Another six were in the Pensacola region.
Louisiana reported four hurricane-related deaths, Mississippi two, Georgia three and Alabama one. Six more people were killed in North Carolina in accidents such as falling trees as Ivan moved north, state emergency officials said.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush said he expects the death toll to increase.
More than 1.5 million homes and businesses lost power: at least 975,000 in Alabama, 50,000 in Louisiana, 145,000 in Mississippi and 345,000 in the Florida Panhandle.
Florida workers were still trying to restore power to about 160,000 hit by Hurricanes Charley and Frances in mid-August and early September.
Insurance experts have estimated the cost at up to 10 billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive in history.
As it moved north, Ivan, which was downgraded to a tropical depression, flooded pastures and roadways as it moved up the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States.
Tornado watches were issued for Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, while several southern and northeastern states were bracing for possible flooding.
Ivan was one of the 16 most powerful storms to hit the United States since 1900.
The Caribbean, meanwhile, was hit by its sixth hurricane of the season, Jeanne, which was downgraded to a tropical depression on Friday.
Jeanne hammered the Caribbean this week, killing two people in Puerto Rico and causing widespread damage and flooding as it hurtled west to pound the Dominican Republic, where another four people were killed, authorities said.