Gunfire could be heard around the city center, and security forces allied to the Houthis are reported to have taken over the international airport.
On Wednesday morning, the rebels moved to within 60km (37 miles) of Aden after seizing the country's largest air base.
Government officials later said the president had been moved to a "secure location" but had not fled the country.
The Reuters news agency reports that Aden residents attempted to storm an army barracks to obtain weapons before being repulsed by troops.
Meanwhile, sources in neighbouring Saudi Arabia told Reuters that there were no plans for military intervention in the crisis, and that the build-up of military forces on its border with Yemen was "purely defensive".
Mr Hadi took refuge in Aden last month after fleeing Sanaa. He had been placed under house arrest when rebels captured the capital but escaped.
"Secure Location"
On Wednesday morning, rebel fighters secured al-Anad air base with the support of security forces loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and declared their intent to take nearby Aden.
US and European military advisers were evacuated from al-Anad last week after militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) overran a nearby town.
Soon afterwards, a source in the presidential guard told the AFP news agency that Mr Hadi had boarded a helicopter at the presidential palace and headed "to an unknown destination abroad".
But senior aides to Mr Hadi insisted he had merely been transferred to a "secure location within Aden" and had no plans to leave.
Hours later, unidentified warplanes targeted the palace compound in Aden, officials and witnesses said, in the third such attack in a week.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam told al-Masirah TV that the rebels would be in Aden "in a few hours", but stressed that they were not planning to "occupy" the south.
Aden TV, a local pro-Hadi channel, urged residents to remain calm, preserve order and not allow "infiltrators and those with weak spirits" to encroach on public or private property.
Bounty
Meanwhile, Houthi officials said its
fighters had arrested the country's Defence Minister, Mahmoud al-Subaihi, and a
senior aide in the southern city of Lahj, where clashes were continuing on
Wednesday.
State television, which is
controlled by the rebels, also announced a reward of 20m Yemeni riyals
($93,000; £62,500) for anyone who captured the "fugitive" president.
On Tuesday, Mr Hadi asked the UN
Security Council to authorise military intervention by "willing
countries" to "protect Yemen and to deter" imminent Houthi
aggression in the south.
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