"Hundreds and thousands of people live on the Gulf Coast and we currently only have shelters for 80,000," he said.
Mississippi's long history of hurricane scars is still visible, with broken boats from Hurricane Camille in 1969 sitting as tourist attractions in Gulf Coast towns. Camille -- which killed 262 people -- was one of three Category 5 hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland since 1900. The others were Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the unnamed storm that wiped out the overseas railway to Key West in 1935.
Several tornadoes -- including this one in Pamana City Beach, Fla. -- destroyed several homes and businesses. Rescuers were searching for trapped survivors.
(Robert Cooper -- Panama City News Herald Via AP)
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Live, 10 a.m. ET: Joe Bastardi, chief hurricane forecaster for AccuWeather.com, discusses the path of the hurricane and severe weather tracking.
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Photo Gallery: Hurricane Ivan churns toward the Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
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Audio: The Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia reports from New Orleans on the approach of Hurricane Ivan.
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Interactive Feature: Follow the path of the storm and get weather reports from threatened Gulf Coast cities.
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NOAA Projected Path
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Transcript: Preparing for Hurricanes
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Hours before Ivan made landfall in southeast Louisiana, the storm's outer bands were tossing broken posts and shards of oyster boats onto Dauphin Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay. More than 100,000 people were asked to evacuate Mobile County. Emergency managers believe almost half of those people -- far more than usual -- have fled north seeking higher ground.
"People are taking this more seriously than before because of the recent storms in Florida," said Lt. Richard Caytom of the Mobile County Sheriff's Department.
The evacuation response contrasted with Mobile's blase reaction to the approach of Hurricane Frederic, which killed five people in 1979. Mobile County Deputy Sheriff Rick Daves remembered waiting for Frederic in his squad car.
"We sat out at the high school under bleachers from 7:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.," he said. "A lot less evacuated then."
A major hurricane blast in Mobile could have a severe impact on the shipping industry. Mobile is the nation's 16th busiest port, accounting for 37 million tons of freight every year, most notably forest products and coal. On Wednesday, there was only one commercial vessel left in the port, but port spokeswoman Judith Adams said the storm was a serious threat to vital infrastructure.
"We've prepared as best we can, but now we need to keep our fingers crossed," she said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Hers was a sentiment felt along 300 miles of coastline. On the evacuated Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach, at the opposite end of the storm's likely path, George and Carol Edlund were among the last to leave Wednesday morning. The Gulf of Mexico churns a couple of hundred feet from the Edlunds' two-story brick-and-beige-shingle home.
"We're not stupid enough to try to weather it out," said George Edlund, 59, sweat dripping down his face and soaking his blue T-shirt.
The storm they are running from appears inclined to stay for a while. Forecasters expect that it will remain a hurricane for 12 hours after making landfall, moving slowly north, dumping as much as 20 inches of rain and threatening to flood Appalachian mountain towns.
Even before Ivan arrived on the Gulf Coast with the full brunt of its might, it was already ripping up piers on the Florida Panhandle and shredding barrier beaches south of Mobile.
"We're starting to get some pretty strong gusts," Adams said. "And this is just the beginning."
Roig-Franzia reported from New Orleans. Skipp is a special correspondent. Staff writers Michael Grunwald in New Orleans and Manny Fernandez in Pensacola, Fla., contributed to this report.
