Hurricane Katrina Kills At Least 4

1.3 Million Florida Homes And Businesses Left Without Power

(CBS/AP)  Hurricane Katrina felled trees, peeled off roofs and left more than 1.3 million customers without power as it slammed into Florida's densely populated southeastern coast with driving rains and sustained winds of 80 mph. Four people were killed, three by falling trees.

Rain fell in horizontal sheets, seas were estimated at 15 feet and winds gusted to 92 mph, toppling trees and street signs. Florida Power & Light said the vast majority of people without electricity were in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The storm made landfall along the Miami-Dade and Broward line between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach. Weather officials said flooding was the main concern as the storm dropped up to 15 inches in parts of Miami-Dade County.

CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Donelan reports Katrina is moving west and out into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico - but could turn around and target Florida for a second time.

"We really are concerned now that it will become a fairly good hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico," says National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield, "We're sort of shifting our focus up into the Panhandle area."

The Panhandle is already quite hurricane-weary, with the back to back impacts of Hurricanes Dennis, which hit last month, and Ivan, which left a trail of destruction last year.

CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports flash flooding is a major concern. As Katrina rolled in, officials began lowering water levels in canals as a precaution against the storm's expected heavy rains.

Despite the danger, many Floridians chose to ride out the storm.

"You know we're kind of used to this, this is maybe the 8th hurricane we've lived through," said one Floridian on Singer Island, as Katrina moved through the area.

Katrina, said another hurricane veteran, "is a wimp - compared to [Hurricanes] Frances and Jean."

The storm proved fatal for three people who ignored warnings to stay inside until the worst was over. A man in his 20s in Fort Lauderdale was crushed by a falling tree as he sat alone in his car, while a 54-year-old man was killed by a falling tree in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Plantation. A woman who was struck by a tree died at a hospital in Hollywood, hospital officals said.

A 79-year-old man in Cooper City also died when his car struck a tree, Broward County officials said. No other details were immediately available.

Three storm-related trauma victims were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, including a driver in critical condition after a tree fell on a car.

An overpass under construction in Miami-Dade County collapsed onto a highway. No injuries were immediately reported, but the freeway - a main east-west thoroughfare - was closed for 20 blocks.