NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- Hurricane Floyd pounded the Bahamas with howling winds and blinding rain today, snapping palm trees in half, ripping roofs off homes, downing power lines and churning up dangerous surf throughout the vulnerable islands east of Florida.
Frightened residents in the low-lying archipelago huddled inside their homes and dozens of public shelters as Floyd, a dangerous Category 4 storm with top sustained wind near 140 mph, raked the Bahamas and threatened the U.S. southeast.
"We're getting rocked," said JAMZ radio news director Kirk Smith, who reported 100 mph wind gusts in Nassau, the Bahamian capital. "We tried to go outside but a huge tree just fell outside our studio."
In a driving rain on New Providence Island, rescuers were trying to reach residents whose homes lost their roofs, but they had to contend with debris-strewn streets and flood waters 3 feet deep in places.
"We're trying to deal with it one emergency at a time," said Melanie Roach, public works director at the government emergency command center.
The hurricane shoved cars around and pelted buildings with tree limbs, roof shingles and fruit stripped from trees. In northern Nassau, flooding surged inland a quarter-mile from shore, residents reported.
At 2 p.m. EDT, Floyd's center was near Abaco Island, or about 195 miles east-southeast of Palm Beach, Fla. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph, and a gradual turn toward the northwest was expected later today. Maximum sustained winds were down from 155 mph.
San Salvador, Eleuthera and Cat islands reported 110 mph winds earlier today, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center cited reports of severe damage in Eleuthera.
Some 600 miles wide, Floyd dwarfed the small Bahamian islands, its hurricane-force winds extending 125 miles outward. Tropical storm force winds extended 290 miles.
Floyd was expected to cut across the Bahamas and then arc along the Florida peninsula Wednesday. The huge storm could deliver Florida its hardest storm strike in years.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Florida City, Fla., to just south of Brunswick, Ga. A hurricane watch was in effect northward to Little River Inlet, S.C.
With evacuations planned or under way in parts of Florida and Georgia, the U.S. hurricane center issued a heavy surf advisory for the East Coast northward to Montauk Point, New York.
In Nassau, dozens of stranded tourists huddled inside the underground ballroom at the Marriott Hotel. The lone exception was a man who watched the storm from a seat on his 8th-floor balcony.
"The kids slept through it and so did my husband, but I was woken by what sounded like tin crashing down and got worried when I could feel the whole bed shaking," said hotel guest Jeannine Bixby of Rumney, N.H., who like most guests abandoned her hotel room.
"We knew this was coming but decided to stick it out -- something to tell everybody back home," said tourist Chris Bolte of Mount Vernon, Ind.
Some 2,000 vacationers and 500 staff at the sprawling Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island were waiting out the storm in a resort convention center. "Everyone's really cooperative. They know how serious this is," said Atlantis spokesman Ed Fields.
Several people were being treated for minor injuries at Nassau's Princess Margaret Public Hospital, ZNF government radio reported.
Communications with the southeastern islands were down, and the Bahamas' telephone company said it didn't know when service would be restored.
Roach reported roofs being ripped off homes and flooding in Eleuthera Island, population 10,000, but said most residents were safe in shelters.
The hurricane uprooted 30-foot trees, ripped awnings off buildings and sent horizontal sheets of rain through Nassau's deserted streets. Its roaring winds pelted the streets with debris and set off car alarms in New Providence Island, which has 165,000 people, half the country's population.
Floyd was a Category 4 storm -- the same status as Hurricane Andrew when it struck South Florida, killing 26 people and causing an estimated $25 billion damage. Andrew killed four people in the Bahamas.
Arthur Rolle, a forecaster at the Bahamas Department of Meteorology, said the storm's center passed over Arthur's Town on north Cat Island today.
On San Salvador island, Riding Rock Inn manager Carter Williams moved all of his guests to a shelter at the Church of God. The island's Club Med resort said some customers were waiting out the hurricane at the resort.
Floyd disrupted airline flights, cruises and shipping traffic between the United States and the Caribbean.
In addition to Floyd, Hurricane Gert strengthened to winds near 105 mph and was 1,050 miles east of the Leeward Islands. Gert was moving toward the west near 16 mph.
