MELBOURNE, Florida (AP) – “I never want to go through this again,” said eight year-old Katie Waskiewicz, who yesterday checked out the fallen trees and broken roof tiles in her Florida neighbourhood after riding out Jeanne with her family. “I was running around the house screaming.”

The storm tore a fresh path of destruction as it finished its march up storm-ravaged Florida. The fourth hurricane in six weeks shut down much of the state and prompted recovery plans on a scale never before seen in the nation.

At least six people died in the storm as it plowed across Florida’s midsection in a virtual rerun for many residents still trying to regroup from hurricanes that have crisscrossed the Southeast since mid-August.

“This is the price we pay for living in paradise,” said Phyllis Cole, laughing at her predicament as she waited along with about a dozen others yesterday to buy a generator. None was in stock, but the store’s manager thought some were on the way.

Florida was the first state to withstand a four-hurricane pounding in one season since Texas in 1886 – a milestone that came with two months remaining in the hurricane season.

Jeanne came ashore around midnight Saturday with 120 mph (193 kph) wind, striking the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances and rocketing debris scattered by earlier storms. Roofs were torn off, stop lights dangled precariously and bridges were flooded from the mainland to barrier islands. About 2.6 million homes and businesses lost power.

“We have some people in Florida who have been hit two or three times now by these hurricanes. They have to be miserable right now,” Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown told The Early Show on CBS.

“We fix it and nature destroys it and we fix it again,” said Florida bar owner Franco Zavaroni, who opened his tavern to seven friends who spread mattresses on the floor among the pool tables to ride out the storm.

Irene Underwood, 88, waited at a Red Cross shelter for a ride to her sixth shelter since the hurricanes started. Her latest temporary home was being closed as emergency officials consolidated operations.

“I can’t go home because I don’t have any power. It’s terrible,” Underwood said.

Jeanne was at barely tropical storm strength when its centre moved over Georgia late yesterday morning. It later weakened into a tropical depression.

The storm doused South Carolina and spawned tornadoes that damaged seven mobile homes and a building housing a pre-school programme, said Cody Odom, of the Clarendon County Disaster Preparedness Agency. Four people were injured.

At 1800 GMT, the centre was in southwestern Georgia south of Macon. It was moving north at 14 mph (23 kph) and was expected to move over the Carolinas.

About 50 homes in south-central Georgia were evacuated early yesterday because of flooding. More than 76,000 Georgia homes and businesses were without power, and about 760 people stayed in Red Cross shelters.

President George W Bush declared a major disaster area in 26 of Florida’s 67 counties while FEMA officials said the hurricanes represented the largest relief effort in the agency’s history. More than 3,000 National Guard troops were deployed to aid relief efforts.

Jeanne follows Charley, which hammered Florida’s southwest coast on August 13; Frances, which struck the same area as Jeanne on September 5; and Ivan, which blasted the western Panhandle on September 16. The three storms caused billions of dollars in damage and killed at least 73 people in Florida alone.

Jeanne was a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall at Hutchinson Island, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach. Officials at the National Hurricane Center said the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances were possibly unprecedented.

At least 21 Florida county school districts cancelled classes yesterday.

The toll from the latest storm extended south to Miami, where one person was electrocuted after touching a downed power line. Two people died when their sport utility vehicle plunged into a canal; a 15 year-old boy was killed by a falling tree; and a man was found dead in a ditch in what police called an apparent drowning.

A 60 year-old man was found dead after a hurricane party at a home. Police said the death may be alcohol-related or he may have drowned in the flooded house.

Authorities arrested 132 people for curfew violations. Four people in a car stopped for violating the curfew dragged a sergeant 150 feet (46 metres) Sunday night. Deputies fired on the car, which blew a tyre.

With Jeanne dumping heavy rain, there was fear of flooding in the days to come in already saturated east and central Florida.

Most counties in South Carolina, except the northeast corner, were under a flood watch, and the US Weather Service placed much of southern Georgia under a tornado watch.

North Carolina governor Mike Easley declared a state of emergency and mobilised 300 National Guard soldiers.

Earlier, Jeanne caused flooding in Haiti that killed more than 1,500 people.