Hurricane Jeanne tore roofs from houses and a hospital, caused widespread power outages and was expected to inflict heavy damage as it pounded Florida?s east coast yesterday, the same coastal region scarred by hurricane Frances three weeks ago.

Jeanne carried winds of 120 mph (192 kph) and strong rains when it charged into the central east coast as a record fourth hurricane to hit the state in a single year.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries. But authorities said they expected to find extensive damage in storm-hit areas once daylight emerged.

Jeanne?s eye made landfall late on Saturday night very close to the spot where Frances hit on Sept. 5 ? near the southern end of Hutchinson Island just east of the city of Stuart, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Jeanne picked up debris and piles of tree limbs left behind by Frances? onslaught, and snapped power lines that had just been fixed. The storm peeled off temporary sheeting that covered roofs damaged by Frances and huge waves pounded the Atlantic coast.

Stuart Mayor Jeff Krauskopf told CNN a hospital in the city lost half its roof. He said the 50 patients inside were safe. He said the howling of the wind outside his house was ?hellish.? ?I?m in my home with a coffee table wedged against the front double doors and I?ve got plywood on my outside and the doors are still bulging,? Krauskopf said early yesterday. ?I just hope the roof stays on.?

By 5 a.m. (0900 GMT), Jeanne had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane from a Category 3 on the 1-5 Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity as it moved inland. Top sustained winds had fallen to 110 mph (177 kph), the National Hurricane Centre said.

Some 816,000 customers were without power, Florida Power & Light spokesman Tim Pagel said. Each customer translates roughly into two people, meaning about 1.5 million people were without electricity. ?We would expect the number to increase,? Pagel told CNN.

Jeanne?s winds and 8-foot (2.4-metre) storm surge earlier lashed the northern Bahamas, a 700-island chain of 300,000 people stretching from Haiti to off the Florida coast.

National guards deployed

As a tropical storm, Jeanne caused devastating flooding that killed as many as 2,000 people in Haiti and 31 in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico a week ago. ?There?s going to be significant damage all the way from Palm Beach County up to the Cape, Brevard County, along the coastal areas,? hurricane centre director Max Mayfield told CNN, referring to a long area of coast from West Palm Beach to Cape Canaveral.

Up to 3 million storm-weary residents in the state of 17 million people were told to evacuate coastal islands, mobile homes and flood-prone areas. But many, emboldened by having survived Frances, remained at home, to the alarm of authorities who cautioned Jeanne was a stronger storm.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush sent yet another letter to his brother, US President George W. Bush, asking for a federal disaster declaration to speed recovery aid. Nearly 3,500 National Guard troops were deployed around the strike area to respond after the storm passed.

It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1851 that four hurricanes hit Florida during the same Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to the end of November.

Jeanne followed the blows of Charley, which slammed into the southwest Gulf coast on Aug. 13, Frances, which hit the central east coast on Sept. 5, and Ivan, which devastated the northwestern corner of Florida and the Alabama coast on Sept. 16.

Between them, the storms have killed 108 people in Florida and other parts of the United States, and caused up to $17.8 billion in insured losses.

At 5 a.m. Jeanne?s centre was about 20 miles (32 km) east of Sebring, Florida, and 45 miles (77 km) west-southwest of Vero Beach, Florida.

It was moving just north of due west near 13 mph (21 kph) and was expected to turn gradually northwest on a track that would take its centre near the Tampa Bay area later yesterday.

Disney World said yesterday it was closing its theme parks and water parks in the tourist mecca of Orlando.

Marc SEROTA