As residents of southeastern Florida picked up the pieces, they also cast a wary eye to the far horizon, where yet another hurricane loomed.

Though Hurricane Ivan was still far away, pounding Barbados and heading for the eastern Caribbean, five-day forecasts had it moving dangerously close to Florida.

In the areas worst affected by Frances over the weekend, many residents will not even utter the name of the new storm.

Local television blamed 13 deaths on Frances in southeastern Florida, after the storm killed two in the Bahamas.

It smashed fragile trailer homes, felled trees and downed power lines.

Homeowners struggled to reach their insurance companies, whose phone lines were jammed.

A marina was destroyed, boats sunk or were washed ashore, and wooden piers were smashed.

Several million people lost power during the storm, and power company crews were struggling to restore service to hundreds of thousands still without electricity to cool their homes in the sweltering heat.

The storm also dealt a heavy blow to Florida's nine-billion-dollar citrus industry, which was already hit hard by Hurricane Charley last month.

Authorities deployed a massive effort to help affected areas, sending millions of liters of water and ice, over a million meals and baby formula for 7,700 infants, as well as 20 truckloads of plastic roof sheeting and hundreds of generators.

While damage is expected to run in the billions of dollars, authorities said that on the whole, Frances was not as devastating as initially feared.

"There's significant damage, but this is a storm that will be defined by the numbers of people (affected) rather than the actual devastation," the Miami Herald quoted state Governor Jeb Bush as saying.

"There's no ground zero that I can see. It's just extensive damage over a broad part of the state."

Meanwhile, some 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) away, Hurricane Ivan threatened Caribbean islands, where residents were urged to rush preparations to safeguard their lives and properties.

Late Tuesday afternoon the center of the powerful hurricane was located 35 kilometers (20 miles) west-southwest of Grenada after knocking out power in Barbados.

St Vincent, the Grenadines, Grenada as well as the Netherlands Antilles islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao were warned they may get hit by the storm.

And the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said the storm, which packed sustained winds of 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour was expected to strengthen further.

"Indications are that there will be a very dangerous hurricane over the northwestern Caribbean sea, western Cuba or the southeastern Gulf of Mexico in five days," the NHC said.

This would bring the storm dangerously close to Florida.