Aerial View of a Beach House Destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in Gulf Shores, Alabama
Date: 20-Sep-04
Country: USA
Author: JLS/GN
Photo: JOE SKIPPER
The eye of the storm went ashore in the area. Hurricane Ivan slammed into the U.S. Gulf coast on Thursday with furious winds and towering waves that ripped houses off their foundations, sliced bridges in half and cut power to millions.
Ivan had already killed 69 people in a deadly 10-day trek through the Caribbean before its eye hurtled onto land in the early hours near Gulf Shores, Alabama, just west of the Florida Panhandle.
At least nine people died, most of them after Ivan spawned tornadoes in northwest Florida, as officials warned the death toll could rise.