Dennis Pounds Ala., Fla. Panhandle

Roofs flew, power lines fell and waves pounded sea walls with four-story geysers. For storm-beleaguered Gulf Coast residents, the destruction from Hurricane Dennis was almost too much to bear, coming just 10 months after the havoc caused by Ivan.

Dennis came ashore on the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast Sunday with a 120-mph fury of blinding squalls and crashing waves that followed in Ivan's ruinous footprints. Damage included power outages affecting more than 200,000 that were expected to last at least three weeks.

Reporting from the

As the storm passed through, Acosta hunkered down with Pensacola resident Wanda White. "It's scary because you don't know what the end will be," said White as the winds howled outside.

Crossing the coast less than 50 miles east of where Ivan made landfall, Dennis pummeled beachfronts already painfully exposed by denuded dunes, flattened neighborhoods and piles of rubble that threatened to turn into deadly missiles.

"I'm watching building pieces and signs come off," said Nick Zangari, who rode out the storm at his restaurant and bar in downtown Pensacola. "We were hearing explosions that must have been air conditioning units from other buildings smashing to the ground. ... There were parts of buildings and awnings all around."

The eye came ashore at 3:25 p.m. EDT midway between the Santa Rosa Island towns of Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach. Dennis became the fifth hurricane to strike Florida in less than 11 months, and Gov. Jeb Bush again asked his brother to declare the state a major disaster area.

Power outages affected more than 140,000 homes and businesses in Florida, mostly in the Panhandle, and 80,000 in Alabama. Gulf Power Co., the main power utility for the western Panhandle, said its 400,000 customers should be prepared to do without electricity for three weeks or more.

Mercifully, Dennis lost strength as it neared the coast. It crossed the Gulf of Mexico as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 145 mph, but weakened before making landfall to Category 3 — the same as Ivan. After crossing land, it dropped to a Category 2 storm.

That was bad enough. Ivan killed 29 people in the Panhandle alone and caused more than $7 billion damage across the southeastern United States.

Mindful of the experience, coastal residents fled in advance of Dennis, leaving streets in Pensacola Beach, Fort Walton Beach and Gulf Shores, Ala., nearly deserted. Even Mark Sigler of Pensacola Beach, who owns a dome-shaped, steel-reinforced house built to withstand 200-mph winds, decided to evacuate.

"The house is hurricane-resistant," he said, "not hurricane-proof."

Rain blew sideways in sheets, toppling roadside signs. Waves offshore exceeded 30 feet, and in downtown Pensacola, the gulf spilled over sidewalks eight blocks inland. Boats broke loose and bobbed like toys in the roiling ocean. The Panama City Marine Institute was under water.

In Fort Walton Beach, CBS News Correspondent Trish Regan reported the town's power was cut off as Dennis slammed into homes and knocked down trees. Many headed the call to evacuate, making the city seem

One who stayed, Don Boyes, told Regan why: "This is my home. This is my castle, my life. My plants, my fish need me. I chose to be here."

In Shalimar, large pieces of roof went flying from a building across the street from the emergency operation center. Sheriff's deputies responded only to "life and death" 911 calls because it was too dangerous to be out on the streets.

"It sounds like the proverbial freight train," said Mari Darr Welch, riding out the storm at home in Fort Walton Beach. "I stepped out on the front porch and got slammed against house by a big gust."

Already responsible for at least 20 deaths in Caribbean, Dennis was a tightly wound, compact storm when it reached the Gulf Coast, with hurricane-force winds extending out only 40 miles.

But the worst weather struck where Ivan hit. Scaffolds and blue tarps still covered scores of wrecked buildings, and more than 3,000 families still rely on government-issued trailers.

Near Pensacola, high winds and waves ahead of Dennis forced the shutdown of the Escambia Bay Bridge, which became a symbol of Ivan's destruction when a section collapsed and a trucker plunged to his death.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials had food, water and medical supplies ready for hard-hit areas. The American Red Cross sent meals to the Panhandle and prepared trailers loaded with supplies.

Escambia County Administrator George Touart said crews were poised to begin cleanup work as soon as it was safe to be on the road.

"We're not sure if we're in phase two of Ivan cleanup or phase one of this cleanup," Touart said. "The bottom line is between Dennis and Ivan, we'll get this place cleaned up."

Some 1.8 million people from Florida to Mississippi had been told to evacuate, and storm shelters quickly filled up. More than 9,000 people were in shelters Sunday in Florida alone, and others headed to motels and relatives' homes. In Gulf Shores, where beachfront buildings are still scarred from Ivan's direct hit, even the police force evacuated their storm shelter.

Not everyone left. Angel Garcia and his family evacuated for Ivan but spent $800 for a hotel, so this time they rode out the storm at their apartment three minutes from the water in Fort Walton Beach.

"Of course you get scared," he said, "because it's terrible."

At the other end of Florida, on the southern tip, power was restored to more than three-quarters of the 428,000 customers who lost service when Dennis passed 125 miles west of Key West on Saturday. Hotels and shops reopened and prepared for an onslaught of returning tourists.

"Everybody in Key West should go out and buy a lottery ticket, because we're lucky," said Michael Haskins, the city's public information officer.

But for most, Dennis' misery was only beginning. Forecasters warned hurricane-force winds could occur as far as 150 inland, threatening up to a foot of rain and widespread power outages as it travels north through Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and western Tennessee.

For some on the Gulf Coast who have been through recovery and rebuilding already with Ivan, Dennis seemed more than just a climatological coincidence.

"The good Lord's trying to tell us something or other," said 77-year-old Lesley Hale, among 1,200 residents who rode out the storm at a shelter in Pensacola. "Something's going to give."