The deaths occurred Sunday in the city of Gainesville in north-central Florida, 386 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of Stuart, which lies on the state's hard-hit Atlantic coast.

A man died at midday when he lost control of his car and hit a tree, and later a woman was killed when an oak tree fell on her mobile home, Captain Beth Hardee of Alachua County Fire and Rescue told AFP.

Gainesville was still under driving rain and high gusting wind early Monday, some 22 hours after the storm first entered the area, she said.

"I've lived in Florida all my life and I've never experienced a storm like this," she said.

The remnants of the eye of Frances have moved off Florida's west coast, but "it's trying to reform. It could build up strength again" over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, she said.

Two people died in the Bahamas when Hurricane Frances battered the Atlantic island chain for more than 30 hours Thursday and Friday.

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