CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- Millions of coastal residents fled Hurricane Floyd early Wednesday, as the huge storm swirled toward the southeastern U.S. coast, leaving mangled boats and toppled trees in its wake in the Bahamas.

At last report, the center of the Category 4 storm was about 190 miles (306 km) east-southeast of Jacksonville, Florida -- or, about 350 miles (565 km) south of Wilmington, North Carolina -- moving toward the north-northwest at nearly 14 mph
(22.5 km/h).

Coastal residents jammed TVs, VCRs, dogs, and photos into their cars, as they fled. One family even buckled a caged cockatiel into the passenger seat.

The motorists pulled trailers, boats and wooden wagons behind their vehicles, then sat for hours on jammed highways. Interstate 10, the major westbound highway out of Jacksonville, was stalled for nearly 200 miles.

Traffic jams dragged on for hours, and officials in Georgia and South Carolina turned stretches of major east-west thoroughfares into multi-lane, median-divided one-way streets to speed the flow of motorists fleeing inland overnight.

Some 2.6 million coastal residents were told to leave their homes and seek refuge on higher land far from the Atlantic Ocean.E