GULFPORT - James Miller and his son hunkered down in their boat Wednesday night as Hurricane Ivan battered a deep-water canal where he and hundreds of other boaters sought refuge from the storm.
Miller's older-model white vessel, the Quinton, joined others lining the banks of the Industrial Seaway - a deep-water canal about five miles north of the beach at Gulfport.
Miller said that by 11:30 p.m., the water was rising and the winds were howling, possibly 70-80 miles per hour.
"It's getting down right now. It's really cranking but it looks like everybody is surviving," the 39-year-old shrimper told The Associated Press by cell phone. "The tide's rising, but that's to be expected. It's not really raining that hard but trees are laid over and boats are tilting and beating and banging against each other but everybody's making it."
Earlier Wednesday, families loaded supplies and secured their boats as gusts of wind began to push rain onto the coast. Some people made their own trails through the brush, stretching ladders from the banks to board their boats.
"We rode out the last storm here and it was perfect," said Miller. "It wouldn't matter if the wind was 200 miles an hour, I'd ride it out."
Miller - wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a Denver Broncos hat - grilled over a charcoal grill on the deck and looked after his adolescent son.
"This is going to be a hell-raiser here tonight, you can trust me on that," Miller said.
He said as the water rises, boats would move closer to the bank and tighten their ropes, then as the water recedes the ropes would be loosened so the vessels wouldn't become grounded on the bank.
Andy Duong and eight members of his family - including his 3-year-old grandchild - were planning to stay aboard their shrimp boat. His son Thanh, 21, said it won't be the first time the family has done that, so he wasn't worried.
"I think it's exciting to me," Thanh Duong said. "It seems like there is a lot more damage on land than on boats."
Officials, however, had urged all residents to flee by noon Wednesday. Harrison County civil defense director Linda Rouse said an estimated 75,000 vehicles fled north Tuesday.
Rouse said some flooding had occurred in low areas along the coast.
There were 2,548 people staying in 17 public shelters in Harrison County.
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