PENSACOLA, Fla. – Across Florida, hundreds of relief workers fanned out yesterday to help still-numb families. Motorists waited in lines miles long to buy gas and get free food, ice, and water. People of all ages sifted through the rubble of demolished and damaged homes and businesses, trying to salvage clothes, photos, anything of their life before Hurricane Ivan.

President Bush visited the Pensacola area and Alabama yesterday, his third such visit for Florida, and flew by helicopter over parts hit hardest when Ivan howled ashore Thursday with 130 mph winds. The hurricane spawned deadly tornadoes and a huge storm surge that gutted homes and businesses, washed out roads and bridges, and knocked out power.

“Hang in there,” the president told residents as he walked along a street where Ivan obliterated dozens of homes, leaving lawns littered with broken lamps, clothes dryers, windows, chairs, and microwaves.

While Mr. Bush came to console hurricane victims, the presidential election was not far from anyone’s mind in a state that helped determine the 2000 race and an area filled with Republican-leaning military personnel and retirees. One resident held up a dilapidated piece of cardboard scrawled with the words: “George Bush. You have our vote!”

Lynn Woodruff, whose home was heavily damaged and whose family restaurant across the street was demolished, spoke briefly with Mr. Bush. “Out of something bad, at least he made you feel good,” she said.

In Pensacola, the Rev. Russell Levenson of Christ Episcopal Church gave his congregation “permission slips” yesterday to grieve for their lost possessions. Then he urged them to look for hope.

“Maybe you lost the trees, but not the house. Maybe you lost the house, but not the stuff in it,” he said. “Maybe you lost everything, but you’re still here.”

Ivan’s path across the South and Northeast left at least 50 people dead, 16 of them in Florida. Earlier, it was blamed for 70 deaths in the Caribbean. The president has declared disaster areas in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina, freeing up federal money for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans, and other programs.

Escambia County, Fla., bore the brunt of Ivan’s storm surge and wind, which damaged bridges that cross its bays and connect the mainland to the barrier island of Santa Rosa Island. It left virtually all the county’s 300,000 residents without power, water, and sewer service. For a state hit hard by hurricanes this season, some good news emerged yesterday.

Tropical Storm Jeanne turned into the open sea, making it likely to spare the southeastern United States. Flooding from the storm already has been devastating in the Caribbean, however: Jeanne killed at least 50 people in Haiti, seven in neighboring Dominican Republic, and two in Puerto Rico.

Another hurricane, Karl, gained strength but was far out in the Atlantic on a course that will keep it there. Hurricane season ends November 30.