GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) - Hurricane Ivan slammed ashore early Thursday with winds of 130 mph, packing deadly tornadoes and a powerful punch of waves and rain that threatened to swamp communities from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. At least 12 deaths were blamed on the storm.

Many of the millions of Gulf Coast residents who spent a frightening night in shelters and boarded-up homes were emerging Thursday morning to find that Ivan was not the catastrophe they had feared. Forecasters said the worst could be yet to come, as up to 15 inches of rain were expected as the storm moved inland.

Downtown Mobile was deserted early Thursday. The historic oak-tree-lined Government Street was blocked with downed tree limbs, metal signs, roofing material and other storm debris.

''We were wondering at first if we made the right choice or not,'' said Marc Oliver, 38, who rode out the storm with his family in Mobile. ''We had some trees down in our yard and roofing damage, other than that, we came out pretty good.''

Oliver boarded up his windows of his brick home and spent the night with his wife, 7-year-old son and brother-in-law, Robert Driver, moving from room to room as the winds shifted.

''The good Lord was looking out for us,'' Driver said.

The storm weakened as it moved inland, but remained a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph more than four hours after landfall.

Ivan knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, toppled trees, ripped off roofs and sent street signs hurtling through the night. In the beach resort town of Gulf Shores, where the storm's eye blew ashore, the sky had a bright green glow as electrical transformers blew.

''We have never seen a hurricane of this size come into Alabama,'' said Gov. Bob Riley, who earlier asked President Bush to declare much of the state a disaster area, a request that was granted.

Two people were killed and more than 200 homes were damaged when at least five tornadoes roared through Florida's Bay County. Five people were killed when another tornado struck homes in Blountstown, Fla., and an 8-year-old girl died after being crushed by a tree that fell onto her mobile home in Milton, Fla. Her parents were unharmed.

Four ailing evacuees reportedly died after being taken from their storm-threatened south Louisiana homes to safer parts of the state.

''You want to see the natural hand of God firsthand but you don't realize how strong it is,'' said Kevin Harless, 32, who was sightseeing in Panama City Beach, Fla., around the time of the tornadoes.

At the Pensacola News Journal building, flood water seeped into the building about four blocks from Pensacola Bay, barely covering parts of the floor. Workers feared a wall of water would cascade in if they opened the doors to leave.