Tropical storm Jeanne headed over the southeastern Bahamas on Saturday after an assault on the Dominican Republic that killed 11 people, destroyed hundreds of houses and forced thousands from their homes.

On the battered US Gulf Coast, slammed by Hurricane Ivan on Thursday, search and rescue teams continued a painstaking hunt through the debris of crumpled buildings for stranded survivors or people killed.

Ivan, at one point one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed at least 69 people during a deadly trek through the Caribbean and another 39 in the United States.

Its centre hurtled ashore on the Alabama coast just west of the Florida Panhandle with 130-mile-per-hour winds and a devastating storm surge that smashed seaside homes, cut bridges and left hundreds of thousands of people without power.

Jeanne, which also killed two people in the US territory of Puerto Rico earlier in the week, prompted storm warnings in parts of the Bahamas, a 700-island chain with a population of 300,000. President Bush declared a disaster in Puerto Rico on Saturday, a move that releases federal aid.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Jeanne?s centre was about 45 miles southeast of the southeastern Bahamas, near the tiny Caicos islands, and was expected to move north-northwest at about 7 mph in the coming day. Its top winds were about 45 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The longer-term forecast, which has a wide margin of error, forecast Jeanne staying well to the east of the United States in the next few days.

Florida, a state of 17 million people, was picking up from a rare one-two-three hurricane punch, by Charley on Aug. 13, Frances on Sept. 4 and Ivan.

<B>14 people missing</B>

Food, water and aid began to pour into Florida?s northeastern corner in a relief effort that has been hampered by the destruction of bridges in the Pensacola area ? a chain of communities linked together by bridges.

C-130s aircraft and heavy-lift Chinook helicopters were ferrying food, water and medical supplies. Search and rescue teams were still working in the Pensacola area, said Alan Harris, a spokesman for the state emergency response team. ?They have listed 14 people missing,? he said, adding that the missing could be people who had left the area without telling friends or relatives.

Long lines formed at centres handing out food, water and ice, and at gas stations that had started to pump again. ?This has been the largest deployment of manpower or resources for a natural disaster in (American) Red Cross history,? said spokesman Peter Maciaf in Mobile, Alabama, referring to the string of hurricanes in Florida.

Some 1,000 Red Cross staff and volunteers were among relief workers serving meals and providing shelter.

Power was still out to several million people: nearly 2 million in Florida and Alabama alone were without electricity. ?We?re moving now into a phase in which the hazard is not the storm itself but problems related to a lack of power, a lack of water,? said John Agwunobi, Florida Secretary of Health.

?I would urge all residents to recognize that their environment, if it was affected by the storm, is a lot more hazardous now that it was before the storm.?

Insured losses from hurricanes Charley and Frances were estimated at $11 billion and a private risk assessment firm forecast Ivan?s likely insured damages at $2 billion to $7 billion.

President Bush, brother of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, planned to visit the areas hit by Ivan. Ivan?s remnants flooded rivers and ripped down power lines in the US South. Tornadoes sprouted on Friday night in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington, grounding flights at area airports, damaging homes and causing some power outages. Two women died on Saturday in Cecil County, Maryland, when a large tree fell onto their house, according to The Washington Post.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities said the death toll from Jeanne had risen to 11, while 146 people were injured after Jeanne lashed the north of the country for two days.

Emergency officials said more than 30,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. Large areas of crops were under water and some towns and villages were cut off by mudslides that blocked roads.

Far out at sea, Karl is now the seventh hurricane in a relentless Atlantic season that has battered the Caribbean, Florida and the US Gulf Coast, but forecasters said Karl was expected to stay clear of land.

<B>Frances Kerry</B>