It was also blamed for at least three deaths, with several others possibly linked to the ferocious hurricane.

The same storm that is feared to have killed about 2,000 people in northern Haiti a week earlier, Hurricane Jeanne devastated several of the trailer home communities that dot the coastal areas of Florida where it hit hardest.

Jeanne barrelled into southeastern Florida at the same spot where Hurricane Frances made landfall three weeks ago. Two more hurricanes slammed Flrodia since mid-August.

"This has been a historic six-week period," Florida Governor Jeb Bush said at a news conference.

"Never before, since 1880 has there been a state that has received four hurricanes at once, and back in 1880 in Texas there were probably a 100,000 people that lived there," while Florida today is "a state of 17 million," Bush said.

When Jeanne crashed ashore, it was a powerful category three hurricane packing winds of 193 kilometers (120 miles) per hour, with higher gusts.

It then headed inland and was eventually downgraded to a tropical storm, but could still trigger floods and spawn tornadoes.

The governor -- a brother of the US president - was confident the storm-weary resident of the southeastern US state would soon rebuild and recover.

"On long term basis this state will not only survive, it will rebound," he said at a news conference.

In Fort Pierce, one of the towns worst hit by the storm, trees, lamp posts and traffic lights littered the streets. Numerous trailer homes were smashed to pieces, as Jeanne in some cases completed the destruction Frances had started three weeks ago.

At the city's marina, several boats were under water, some sunk by Frances, some by Jeanne.

Further north, in Vero Beach, it was the streets that were under water.

In the small town of Micco, a man was found lying lifeless in the water in a flooded house where he had been partying as the hurricane slammed ashore, and another man was found dead after apparently driving his car into a canal during the storm, local media said.

Two people also died when their vehicle plunged into a lake in Fort Lauderdale, which experienced some heavy winds and rain but was spared the worst of the storm.

In Miami, which also experienced stormy conditions but not hurricane-force winds, one man was found dead, electrocuted by a downed power line, police said.

The fate of a surfer reported missing in heavy surf in Miami Beach was unknown after the US Coast Guard suspended their search once winds became too strong to fly helicopters.

During the night, 40 people at a shelter in Brevard County were moved in the night after the roof of the facility flew off, said Dave Bruns of the Florida Emergency Management Agency.

The eye of the hurricane made landfall just before midnightSunday) at Hutchinson Island, just south of Fort Pierce.

Eerie green flashes lit up the night sky as transformers blew out, cutting electricity for yet more residents of the storm-weary state.

As soon as the worst of the storm was over here at dawn, police and rescue workers cruised the sodden, debris-strewn streets.

Authorities imposed curfews to help emergency teams move faster, and to deter looters from plundering boarded-up homes and businesses.

They also sealed off bridges leading to barrier islands as they scoured the area for possible victims, although residents there were among the three million told to evacuate.

Forecasters were awed by the number of powerful storms making landfall this hurricane season, which lasts from June to November.

"It's unbelievable. This year is going to be one to tell your grandchildren about," said Max Mayfield, director of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Ivan last week killed more than 130 people in the eastern United States and Caribbean nations. Before that, Hurricanes Charley and Frances killed dozens and destroyed thousands of homes after slamming into Florida's coasts.

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