Ike spins toward US oil hub
2008-09-08 14:01
Havana - Hurricane Ike weakened into a
Category 2 storm on Monday after roaring ashore in northeastern
Cuba, but forecasters say it could regain intensity as it spins
toward the US oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly New
Orleans.
Ike pounded northeastern Cuba with 165km/h winds, torrential rains and massive waves, and it could
slow further to a Category 1 storm on the five-step
Saffir-Simpson intensity scale as it runs the 1 125km
island, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Cuba's state-run television showed angry waves slamming
into the sea wall and surging as high as nearby five-storey
apartment buildings before flooding the streets of the city of
Baracoa near the eastern tip of the communist-ruled island.
While a dangerous Category 3 storm, Ike had ripped through
the southern Bahamas and added to the misery and death toll in
storm-battered Haiti. Officials said at least 61 people had
died in floods in impoverished Haiti on top of 500 killed last
week by Tropical Storm Hanna.
The Cuban Meteorology Institute said the storm crashed into
the coast near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin, about
823km southeast of Havana.
"There is lot of worry, windows are beginning to break," a
woman named Carmela said by telephone from the hotel where she
works in the city of Holguin, 50km from Punta
Lucrecia. "There's a lot of water, it's raining very heavily."
Officials said at least 1.1 million people were evacuated
ahead of a storm expected to slash through the heart of Cuba,
which is still reeling from Hurricane Gustav's hard hit on the
west side of the long, narrow island last week.
After traversing Cuba, Ike could regain Category 3 strength
over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and threaten the 4 000
platforms that produce 25% of US oil and 15% of
its natural gas, and point toward Louisiana and Texas.
Ike may threaten New Orleans, the city swamped in 2005 by
Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1 500 people and caused $80bn
billion in damage on the US Gulf Coast. Gustav narrowly
missed New Orleans last Monday.
At 09:00 GMT, Ike was 65km southeast of
Camaguey, Cuba, heading west near 24km/h. The storm's
centre was expected to spin over central Cuba during Monday and
reach the Gulf by late Tuesday, the hurricane centre said.
Rainfall of up to 50.80cm in Cuba was
possible, forecasters said.
As Ike roared through the Caribbean, residents of the
Florida Keys, a 177km island chain connected by
bridges with only one road out, were told to evacuate as a
precaution.