Beginning an agonizing, all-too-familiar process, Floridians lined up for generators, chainand other clean-up supplies only hours after Hurricane Wilma cut a costly, deadly swath across the peninsula.

The storm slammed across the state in about seven hours Monday, causing billions in insured damage and leaving 6 million people without electricity. Wilma was blamed for at least six and possibly as many as eight deaths statewide.

Officials in the state's three most populous areas — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — were prepping to distribute ice, water and other items to storm-struck residents Tuesday, while utility-restoration efforts could stretch into weeks.

President Bush promised swift help for the storm-ravaged areas. He signed a disaster declaration and was briefed on the situation by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, acting FEMA director David Paulison and Bush's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.

The hurricane arrived as a Category 3 and littered the landscape with damaged signs, awnings, fences, billboards, roof tiles, pool screens, street lights and electrical lines.

Felled trees and blown roofs dotted expressways, and all three of South Florida's major airports — Miami International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach — were closed, halting air travel.

At a Home Depot in Weston on Monday night, about 100 people — many seeking generators, propane tanks and other supplies — stood in line outside. They were being let in 10 at a time to prevent overcrowding.

The hurricane was expected to race up the Atlantic Seaboard and link up with an area of low pressure already off the coast, raising fears about renewed flooding in areas already hit hard by eight consecutive days of rain earlier this month.

A flood watch was issued for Tuesday covering most of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, along with parts of northern Connecticut and southern New Hampshire. By midnight Monday, heavy rain was falling across New Jersey.

Unseasonably cool temperatures hovered over much of Florida early Tuesday, meaning the lack of air conditioning wasn't making a tough situation even more unbearable for those in Wilma's path.

Officials warned residents to boil water in parts of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. A water main breach in downtown Miami sprayed water 15 feet in the air.

Authorities confirmed that two people were dead in Collier County, two in Palm Beach County, one in Broward County and one in St. Johns County. Before hitting Florida, the storm killed at least six people in Mexico and 13 others in Jamaica and Haiti as it made is way across the Caribbean.

There were reports early Tuesday of a third death in Palm Beach and a second in Broward, although officials in both counties could not immediately provide confirmation of those fatalities.

To underscore the storm's vast reach, a tornado touched down near Melbourne on the east coast, 200 miles from landfall, damaging an apartment complex. No one was injured.

Wilma, the eighth hurricane to strike Florida in 15 months, prompted Monique Kilgore to use a handsaw and shears to get rid of debris in front of her Fort Lauderdale home.

PHOTO CAPTION

A trampoline is blown away during Hurricane Wilma in Boca Raton, Florida, October 24, 2005. (Reuters)