Hurricane Frances left a trail of destruction in the Bahamas as it moved towards the US coastline today, weaker but still capable of causing massive damage.
Power and phone lines were brought down; coastal roads were flooded and the roof off an airline building was blown off as Frances struck Nassau, the Bahamas' capital in the past 24 hours.
The storm hit the Bahamas on Thursday and is still pounding northwestern islands in the chain this morning.
In Florida, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, the storm moved closer with high winds and torrential rain from the 105-mph hurricane's outer bands arriving.
The winds downed trees and knocked out power to 170,000 people in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, which along with Palm Beach are the state's most populous areas, with more than 5 million people.
Most airports across the state halted flights or closed and curfews have been imposed.
In the Bahamas, a teenager was killed yesterday while trying to fix an electrical generator outside his home.
In Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island, the winds felled trees onto parked cars.