Weaker than forecasters feared, Hurricane Dennis dealt the storm-beleaguered Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast only a moderate blow Sunday, sparing the region the widespread destruction wrought by Ivan just 10 months earlier.

Striking less than 50 miles east of where Ivan came ashore, Dennis left 470,000 customers without power, and some outages were expected to last at least three weeks. Floodwater inundated the river village of St. Marks and miles of U.S. 98, a coastal highway in the Panhandle.

The fast-moving Category 3 hurricane struck with 120 mph winds but was smaller than its predecessor. Hours after landfall, officials reported no storm-related deaths and little major structural damage.

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"We're really happy it was compact and that it lasted only so long," said Mike Decker, who lost only some shingles and a privacy fence at his Navarre home, near where the storm came ashore. "It was more of a show for the kids."

Dennis was responsible for at least 20 deaths in Caribbean, then grew into a Category 4, 145-mph monster as it marched up the Gulf of Mexico. But it weakened just before landfall at 3:25 p.m. EDT, midway between the western Panhandle towns of Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach.

White-capped waves spewed four-story geysers over sea walls. Sideways, blinding rain mixed with seawater blew in sheets, toppling roadside signs for hotels and gas stations. Waves offshore exceeded 30 feet, and in downtown Pensacola, the gulf spilled over sidewalks eight blocks inland. Boats broke loose and bobbed like toys in the roiling ocean.

John Pacholl rode out the storm in his Navarre Beach home.

"I heard sheet metal rip up," he said. "I saw a piece as long as a semi fly up in the air and go about a quarter mile down the road and disappear."

But hurricane-force winds stretched only 40 miles from the center, compared with 105 miles for Ivan, and Dennis moved at nearly 20 mph. Maximum rainfall was measured at 8 inches, rather than the expected foot.

"With Ivan, the damage area was probably more spread out and wider than it was for Dennis," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Michelle Mainelli said.

At 11 p.m., the center of Dennis was located near latitude 32.3 north, longitude 87.8 west or in Marengo County about 25 miles southeast of Demopolis, Ala.

Ivan killed 29 people in the Panhandle and caused more than $7 billion damage in the Southeast. Mindful of the experience, coastal residents fled in advance of Dennis, leaving streets in Pensacola Beach, Fort Walton Beach and Gulf Shores nearly deserted.

Even Mark Sigler of Pensacola Beach, who owns a dome-shaped, steel-reinforced house built to withstand 200-mph winds, decided to evacuate.

"The house is hurricane-resistant," he said, "not hurricane-proof."

Some of the worst damage occurred in St. Marks, south of Tallahassee, where a marina, other businesses and homes flooded. Roads into the fishing town were impassable, and there was flooding in the coastal towns of Shell Point and Oyster Bay.

Flooding on U.S. 98, a major coastal highway in the Panhandle, cut off main routes into beach communities.

But a scan of the area between Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach showed relatively little damage, with the expected ripped-apart gas station awnings and overturned sheds but few downed power lines and trees. The normally placid blue Gulf was still churned into a tea-colored froth, but few homes, even along the shore, appeared to have sustained extensive flooding.

Neighborhoods along the Gulf showed only intermittent debris. The only seriously compromised roofs along U.S. 98 had blue tarps on them and appeared to be left over damage from last year's hurricane Ivan.

Escambia County Commissioner Mike Whitehead said initial reports indicated some broken windows, trees and power lines down, minor flooding in downtown Pensacola and a few trees falling on houses.

"Because of where it went in, we missed a real close shot. It went into a relatively unpopulated area," Whitehead said. "If that thing had shifted 20 miles to the west, we'd have been in trouble, but we got real lucky."

In Alabama's coastal Baldwin County, which was ground zero for Ivan last year, officials also breathed a sigh of relief.

"We dodged a bullet," said emergency management director Leigh Anne Ryals, whose pastor husband led a prayer at a news conference hours before the storm.

The biggest problem was power outages, which affected more than 236,700 homes and businesses in Florida, mostly in the Panhandle, and 240,000 in Alabama. Gulf Power Co., the main power utility for the western Panhandle, said customers should be prepared to do without electricity for three weeks or more.

Dennis became the fifth hurricane to strike Florida in less than 11 months, and President Bush soon declared the state a major federal disaster along with Alabama and Mississippi. Forecasters warned that Dennis could dump up to 8 inches of rain as it travels north through Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee into the Ohio Valley.

Escambia County Administrator George Touart said crews were poised to begin cleanup work as soon as it was safe to be on the road.

"We're not sure if we're in phase two of Ivan cleanup or phase one of this cleanup," Touart said. "The bottom line is between Dennis and Ivan, we'll get this place cleaned up."

Nearly 1.8 Million Evacuated

With nearly 1.8 million people under evacuation orders, some towns in the projected path were almost deserted, including Alabama's Dauphin Island, where many people have ridden out previous hurricanes.

Storm shelters filled up in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. More than 9,000 people were in shelters Sunday in Florida alone, and others headed to motels and relatives' homes. "We're expecting to be sheltering tens of thousands," said Red Cross spokeswoman Margaret O'Brien.

Even the police force evacuated Gulf Shores, Ala., instead of riding out the storm in a municipal building as they did during last year's Hurricane Ivan, whose damage still scars the beach resort.

With the storm appearing likely to follow the path torn by the Category 3 Ivan, some buildings still had scaffolding around them and piles of debris lay in streets, ready to be launched into the air by the fierce wind.

"I think there is a legitimate feeling, 'Why me? What did I do wrong?"' Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said.

Blamed for at least 20 deaths in Haiti and Cuba, Dennis weakened to a Category 1 storm over Cuba, then retained strength in the Gulf on Saturday and became a Category 4 storm again early Sunday, with top sustained wind of 140 mph.

"Category 4 is not just a little bit worse -- it's much worse," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Damage increases exponentially as the wind speed increases. And no matter where it makes actual landfall, it's going to have a tremendous impact well away from the center."

West of Gulf Shores in Mobile County, the 40 to 50 vessels at the Sundowner Marina had been "double tied, retied and tied again," said owner Cliff Lockett.

"I'll lock it up and kiss it goodbye," he said. "If it's here in the morning, we'll be happy."

Key West Spared

After crossing Cuba, Dennis dealt a glancing blow to Key West in the Florida Keys with 55 mph wind, knocking out power, flooding streets and downing some trees. However, no deaths or serious injuries were reported.

"Everybody in Key West should go out and buy a lottery ticket, because we're lucky," said Michael Haskins, the city's public information officer.

About 1.1 million people were under evacuation orders in Florida, as were 500,000 in Alabama and 190,000 in Mississippi. Traffic doubled on some highways as people fled inland. Alabama officials turned Interstate 65 into a one-way route north from the coast to Montgomery.

Police went through waterfront neighborhoods in coastal Panhandle cities advising residents of the mandatory evacuation orders. In Fort Walton Beach, they didn't have any problem convincing Pat Gosney, who remained in his house across the street from an offshoot of Choctawhatchee Bay during Hurricane Ivan last year.

"That's why we're leaving," Gosney said. "We'll never stay again."

For Gulf Coast residents, the approaching hurricane was all too familiar.

"I have my moments of bitterness, but I'm OK," said Andrea Walter of Gulf Breeze, whose house was seriously damaged by Ivan. "You can't get too discouraged or you'll go crazy."

Watch Local 6 Weather with Tom Sorrells, Michele Cimino and Larry Mowry for your forecast.