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A violent strike

"LIKE A WAR ZONE': Two die in Panama City before Ivan's core reaches landfall on the gulf coast. "COMPLETE STORM': Flooding, storm surge, winds and tornadoes all significant in widespread damage.

MOBILE, Ala. - Hurricane Ivan slammed the Gulf Coast with staggering intensity Wednesday night, spawning killer tornadoes, ripping homes from foundations and sending monstrous waves crashing to shore.

The most powerful storm to hit the area since Hurricane Camille in 1969, Ivan spun off six tornadoes that ripped through the Panama City area, killing two and leveling scores of houses.

"We have a report from a deputy that it looks like a war zone," Bay County sheriff's spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said.

Buoys south of Mobile, Ala., reported waves of more than 50 feet, and forecasters feared the storm surge would reach 16 feet. Up to 15 inches of rain was expected in some areas.

As Ivan bore down on Mobile late Wednesday, the roar of the storm was deafening, transformers were exploding across the city, and downtown streets were beginning to flood.

"It's going to be extreme damage," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "We're very concerned with the storm surge."

Ivan, which claimed 68 lives in the Caribbean, was moving ashore early today with winds of about 135 mph. That would make it the first Category 4 storm to hit the Panhandle since 1926.

Fearing the worst, roughly 2-million people in four states fled inland to safety.

"This is one of those complete storms," said Craig Fugate, Florida's emergency management director. "Storm surge - significant to catastrophic. Flooding - significant to catastrophic. Winds - significant to catastrophic. Tornadoes, depending on where they touch down - significant to catastrophic."

That was the scene in Panama City.

Trees were uprooted and cars tossed about like dice in pockets of Panama City Beach, Parker, and the Sandy Creek area of Bay County. Early reports indicated as many as 70 homes in Parker were significantly damaged.

"We've got to get things under control. We've got a major disaster," Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said.

Nancy King, 77, was killed when a tornado demolished her three-bedroom home across East Bay from Tyndall Air Force Base northeast of Panama City, officials said. Another tornado at Panama City Beach killed John Martin, 84, who was checking his daughter's real estate business with his son. Martin's son ducked into another room when the tornado approached and was not injured, officials said.

Ivan's prelude began hours earlier.

Roaring waves crashed over the majestic sand dunes between Destin and Fort Walton Beach, threatening to flatten them. Rough waters in the intracoastal waterway tossed boats around like toys and slammed across local docks and sea walls. Winds howled in exposed Louisiana marshlands, toppling trees.

Neighborhoods in Pensacola were without power and all bridges south of town were closed because of wind gusts.

As swells as high as 55 feet churned in the gulf, Mobile resembled a city under siege. Officials imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. All National Guard armories in the state were converted to shelters as schools overflowed with evacuees. At least 11,000 people crowded 95 shelters statewide.

At 5 p.m., the county put out an urgent call for backup generators, paramedics and nurses to help staff the growing number of shelters. By 6 p.m., power lines started to fall, and police began to order any remaining stragglers off the street.

"We have never seen a hurricane of this size come into Alabama," said Gov. Bob Riley, who earlier asked President Bush to declare much of the state a disaster area.

Officials begged people living in low-lying areas to leave before it was too late.

"We went door to door along the barrier island asking people to leave," said Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean. "If they said no, we gave them toe tags and asked them to fill out forms giving us their next of kin."

In numerous towns along the gulf coast, thousands were restless before nightfall.

"When are they going to let us go home?" 8-year-old Miranda Roussin asked her mother as they walked down the hallway of a Fort Walton shelter.

"I don't know, sweetie," answered 28-year-old Lisa Roussin.

The storm - with hurricane-force winds extending 105 miles from its center - hit a large swath of the Gulf Coast.

Even before landfall, Ivan's giant waves destroyed homes along the Florida coast and caused major beach erosion.

Forecasters projected that hurricane-force winds would last up to 12 hours after landfall, Fugate said.

"It is the size of Frances," said Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, "with the punch of Charley."

This year, no Florida county has escaped the wrath of hurricanes. Schools in all 67 counties have been closed for some part of the time.

This season, with five named hurricanes and five tropical storms, is busier than average and could be one of the most active on record, said Rafael Mojica, a hurricane center meteorologist. In 1933, there were 21 named storms, and 19 in 1995. An average hurricane season brings about nine named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

"People are asking, "What's going on? Why are we having all of these hurricanes?' " Fugate said. "It's nature. It's happened before and it will happen again. To think this is highly unusual ignores the fact that Florida sits in one of the most active tropical regions in the world."

While scientists do not fully understand what makes some seasons more active, they believe warmer than normal sea temperatures are a contributing factor. They believe the seas are at least partly responsible for a more active cycle that began in 1995.

Since then, all but two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been above normal, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This year, all of Florida has been affected by hurricanes.

"All counties have had rain or wind," Fugate said. "The Panhandle has seen the least amount of bad weather until now."

For many in Mobile, Ivan recalled Frederic, a Category 3 hurricane that brought 130-mph winds and a 12-foot storm surge and destroyed bridges, buildings and roads 25 years ago.

Officials estimated nearly 60 percent of those who live in an evacuation zone left by Wednesday afternoon.

Not everyone saw it that way.

Just before dark, Russell Coffman, a retired railroad engineer who lives near where part of the movie Forrest Gump was filmed, waded into the canal off Perch Creek where his boats were docked and tried to lash them down. He could see the waves roaring in from Mobile Bay.

"I'm thinking about sleeping on that ship," Coffman said, looking over at the Sea Owl, his aging 66-foot shrimp boat. "I've been up all night watching TV. Those media people like to make it look big. I went through Frederic and I can make it through this."

As he looked at the rising water on the bay and the American flag being ripped apart on the boat, his thoughts turned. "My wife's gone to stay with relatives," he said. "Maybe I'll go, too."

An 11th-hour turn may have spared New Orleans a direct hit, but the sheer size of the storm could create catastrophic flooding in the bowl-shaped city.

Officials warned that the levees and pumping stations that normally hold back the water may not be enough to protect the below-sea-level city.

Officials scrambled to get people out of harm's way, putting the frail and elderly in the cavernous Louisiana Superdome and urging others to move to higher floors in tall buildings.

"If we turn up dead tomorrow, it's my fault," said Jane Allinder, who stayed behind at her daughter's French Quarter doll shop to keep an eye on her cat.

Police began clearing people off the streets, enforcing a 2 p.m. curfew.

"I think it's safe to say we will have flooding in this city," said Mayor Ray Nagin. However, he contradicted a statement from his emergency preparedness director that the city needed at least 10,000 body bags to handle possible drowning victims.

- Times staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press.