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Uke


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Ike getting nastier by the hour!
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And this one bodes ill for Florida. Watch your asses Key West! Here comes Ike!
Killer Ike hits Cuba after lashing Bahamas, Haiti
September 08, 2008 12:46 AM EDT

CAMAGUEY, Cuba - Hurricane Ike roared onto Cuba Sunday after destroying houses and crops on low-lying islands and worsening floods in Haiti that have already killed more than 300 people.

With Ike forecast to sweep the length of Cuba and possibly hit Havana head-on, hundreds of thousands evacuated to shelters or higher ground. To the north, residents of the Florida Keys fled up a narrow highway, fearful that the "extremely dangerous" hurricane could hit them Tuesday.

At least 58 people died as Ike's winds and rain swept Haiti Sunday - and officials found three more bodies from a previous storm - raising the nation's death toll from four tropical storms in less than a month to 319. A Dominican man was crushed by a falling tree.

Ike first slammed into the Turks and Caicos and the southernmost Bahamas islands as a Category 4 hurricane, but thousands rode out the storm in shelters and there was no immediate word of deaths on the low-lying islands.

Ike made landfall in eastern Cuba late Sunday night, said meteorologist Todd Kimberlain at the U.S. National Hurricane Center, and was forecast to hit Havana, the capital of 2 million people with many vulnerable old buildings, before it moves into the Gulf of Mexico early Tuesday morning.

At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), Ike was a Category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). It was centered near Cabo Lucretia, about 135 miles (220 kms) east of Camaguey, moving westward at 13 mph (20 kph).

State television broadcast images of the storm surge washing over coastal homes in the easternmost city of Baracoa, and reported that dozens of dwellings were damaged beyond repair.

An informal AP tally of figures being released sporadically by eastern Cuban provinces indicated that more than 770,000 people had been evacuated by Sunday evening. Former President Fidel Castro released a written statement calling on Cubans to heed security measures to ensure no one dies.

Foreign tourists were pulled out from vulnerable beach resorts, workers rushed to protect coffee plants and other crops, and plans were under way to distribute food and cooking oil to disaster areas.

"There's no fear here, but one has to be prepared. It could hit us pretty hard," said Ramon Olivera, gassing up his motorcycle in Camaguey, where municipal workers boarded up banks and restaurants before heavy rain started falling.

More than 100 people waited in chaotic bread lines at each of the numerous government bakeries around town as families hoarded supplies before the storm. And on the provincial capital's outskirts, trucks and dented school buses brought about 1,000 evacuees to the sprawling campus of an art school.

Classrooms at the three-story school built on stilts were filled with metal bunk beds. The approaching hurricane brought a stiff breeze through the open windows.

Mirtha Perez, a 65-year-old retiree, said hardly anyone was left in her nearby town of Salome.

"It's a huge evacuation," she said. "We are waiting and asking God to protect us and that nothing happens to us."

Strong gusts and steady rains fell at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southeast Cuba, where all ferries were secured and beaches were off limits. The military said cells containing the detainees - about 255 men suspected of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida - are hurricane-proof. But the base was spared the strongest winds.

The Turks and Caicos had little natural protection from storm surges of up to 18 feet (5.5 meters). Premier Michael Misick said more than 80 percent of the homes were damaged on two of the British territory's islands and people who didn't take refuge in shelters were cowering in closets and under stairwells, "just holding on for life."

In South Caicos, a fishing-dependent island of 1,500 people, the airport was under water, power will be out for weeks and at least 20 boats were swept away despite being towed ashore for safety, Minister of Natural Resources Piper Hanchell said.

Tourism chairman Wayne Garland was text-messaging with two people in Grand Turk during the height of the storm. "They were literally in their bathroom because their roofs were gone," he said. "Eventually they were rescued."

The Bahamas' Great Inagua island was hit soon thereafter, and both of its shelters sprung leaks in the 135 mph (217 kph) winds.

"It's nasty. I can't remember getting hit like this," reserve police officer Henry Nixon said from inside a shelter holding about 85 people, who peeked out at toppled trees and houses stripped of their roofs when Ike finally passed.

Great Inagua has about 1,000 people and about 50,000 West Indian flamingos - the world's largest breeding colony. Both populations sought safety from the winds and driving rain, with the pink flamingos gathering in mangrove thickets. Biologists worried that their unique habitat could be destroyed.

"There's a possibility that the habitat can't really be replaced, and that they can't find an equivalent spot," said Greg Butcher, bird conservation director for the National Audubon Society. "You might have a significant drop in the number of flamingos."

In flooded Haiti, Ike made an already grim situation abysmal. The coastal town of Cabaret was particularly hard hit - 21 victims were stacked in a mud-caked pile in a funeral home there, including two pregnant women, one with a dead girl still in her arms. More than a dozen children were in the pile.

Heavy rains also pelted the Dominican Republic, Haiti's neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, where about 4,000 people were evacuated from northern coastal towns. One man was crushed by a falling tree.

Where Ike goes after Cuba was hard to predict, leaving millions from Florida to Mexico worrying where it will strike.

"These storms have a mind of their own," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said as tourists and then residents evacuated the Keys along a narrow highway.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin prepared for the possibility of more havoc only days after an historic, life-saving evacuation of more than 2 million people from Hurricane Gustav.

Off Mexico, Tropical Storm Lowell was moving northwest parallel to the coast with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). But the hurricane center predicted it will veer into the Baja California Peninsula late in the week.

---

Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; Mike Melia in Nassau, Bahamas; Jonathan Katz in Gonaives, Haiti; Alexandra Olson in Cabaret, Haiti; Anita Snow in Havana, Cuba; and Danica Coto and David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.



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Havana expects a direct hit by Ike...


Hurricane IKE Public Advisory

Home   Public Adv   Fcst/Adv   Discussion   Wind Probs   Maps/Charts   Archive  

US Watch/Warning   Storm Surge   
000
WTNT34 KNHC 081449
TCPAT4
BULLETIN
HURRICANE IKE ADVISORY NUMBER  30
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL092008
1100 AM EDT MON SEP 08 2008

...IKE BATTERING CAMAGUEY CUBA...HEADING WESTWARD FOR CENTRAL AND
WESTERN CUBA...

AT 11 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA HAS ISSUED A
HURRICANE WARNING FOR THE WESTERN PROVINCES OF OF LA
HABANA...CIUDAD DE HABANA...PINAR DEL RIO...AND THE ISLE OF
YOUTH. A HURRICANE WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR THE CUBAN PROVINCES
OF GUANTANAMO...SANTIAGO DE CUBA... HOLGUIN...LAS TUNAS AND
GRANMA...CAMAGUEY...CIEGO DE AVILA....VILLA CLARA...SANCTI
SPIRITUS...CIENFUEGOS...MATANZAS...LA HABANA...CIUDAD DE
HABANA...PINAR DEL RIO...AND THE ISLE OF YOUTH.

AT 11 AM EDT...1500 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS HAS
ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR LITTLE CAYMAN AND CAYMAN BRAC.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM
OCEAN REEF SOUTHWARD TO THE DRY TORTUGAS...INCLUDING FLORIDA BAY. A
TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM OCEAN
REEF SOUTHWARD TO THE DRY TORTUGAS.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR ANDROS ISLAND AND RAGGED
ISLAND.

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR JAMAICA AND GRAND
CAYMAN.

INTERESTS IN SOUTH FLORIDA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS
OF IKE.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 1100 AM EDT...1500Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 21.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 78.5 WEST OR ABOUT 45 MILES...
 70 KM...WEST-SOUTHWEST OF CAMAGUEY CUBA AND ABOUT 290 MILES...465
KM...EAST-SOUTHEAST OF HAVANA CUBA.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/HR...BUT A TURN
TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST SHOULD BEGIN LATER TODAY.  ON THIS
TRACK...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE SHOULD MOVE BACK OVER WATER
NEAR PUNTA MACURIJES IN THE CUBAN PROVINCE OF CAMAGUEY SOON.  IKE
SHOULD THEN MOVE ALONG OR JUST SOUTH OF THE SOUTHERN COAST OF
CENTRAL CUBA TODAY...MOVE OVER WESTERN CUBA TUESDAY...AND EMERGE
INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO BY TUESDAY NIGHT. 

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 100 MPH...160 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  IKE IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE.
SLIGHT WEAKENING IS POSSIBLE TODAY UNTIL IKE MOVES BACK OVER WATER. 
HOWEVER...ANY DEVIATION TO THE SOUTH OF THE TRACK COULD KEEP IKE
OVER WATER LONGER RESULTING IN SOME RESTRENGTHENING DURING NEXT DAY
OR SO.  A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WILL PROVIDE A BETTER ESTIMATE OF
IKE'S INTENSITY THIS AFTERNOON. 

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 200
MILES...325 KM.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 960 MB...28.35 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 9-12 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE 
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE 
EXPECTED IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS EAST OF IKE ALONG THE SOUTHERN
COAST OF CUBA. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 1-3 FEET...ALONG WITH LARGE
AND DANGEROUS WAVES...ARE POSSIBLE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS.

LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY IKE WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT PORTIONS OF
THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES COAST DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. 
THESE WAVES COULD GENERATE DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING RIP
CURRENTS.

IKE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES
OVER CUBA...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF UP TO 20 INCHES
POSSIBLE. THESE RAINS ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH
FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES OVER MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. RAINFALL
ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER JAMAICA...WITH 2
TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE OVER THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND THE SOUTHERN
BAHAMAS.  RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER
THE FLORIDA KEYS.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE EXTREME SOUTHERN FLORIDA
PENINSULA AND THE FLORIDA KEYS THROUGH TOMORROW. 

REPEATING THE 1100 AM EDT POSITION...21.1 N...78.5 W.  MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST NEAR 14 MPH.  MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...100 MPH.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...960 MB.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 200 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 500
PM EDT.

$$
FORECASTER RHOME/AVILA




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Hurricane Ike Veers Away From Florida Keys

Havana Prepares For A Direct Hit

images_image_281093753.gif CBS News Interactive: 2008 Storm Tracker

KEY WEST, Fla. (CBS) Authorities called off evacuation orders for the Florida Keys on Monday as a ferocious Hurricane Ike shifted south over Cuba and appeared on track to miss the low-lying U.S. island chain.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that it was still too early to tell where Ike would strike after entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday night. Gulf Coast communities as far away as Texas were keeping a nervous eye on the storm, especially in Louisiana, where residents are still recovering from Hurricane Gustav.

Evacuation orders for residents expired at noon Monday. Authorities suggested residents wait until Wednesday to return and urged those who had not left to stay indoors until any errant squalls passed. Tourists should wait until the weekend to come back.

A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch remained in effect for the Keys, though Ike's expected track was well south and west of the islands.

Most storm-hardened Keys residents said they had never intended to leave, or even worry.

"Us folks have lived here for years. We worry but we always think it will be OK," said 80-year-old Barbara Kellner while walking her dog in Key West early Monday. "And we see the weather report today, and it appears it all will be OK."

Key West residents are a hardy bunch, generations of whom have lived through storms. They typically take a wait-and-see stance, and Monroe County officials had anticipated that most of the roughly 25,000 residents of the Lower Keys would have stayed put through Ike.

Some of those residents complained that authorities needlessly scared people away.

"I think they called the guns out a little too soon. They killed business," said Deborah Dietrich, the manager of a nearly empty bakery. "Whether we have hurricane ruin or not, there's financial ruin."

Dietrich said the Croissants de France bakery would be lucky to tally $300 in sales for the weekend. They usually bring in more than $6,000 each day of an average weekend with no storm looming, she said.

Monroe County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro said he didn't regret telling tourists and residents to get out of town ahead of Ike, though he acknowledged that such orders are costly. He estimated businesses throughout the Keys lost about $10 million because of evacuations for Tropical Storm Fay last month.

Officials estimate tourists spend about $175 a day in the Keys. With some 20,000 having fled for Ike, that's about $3.5 million for each day they're gone.

Many business owners along the evacuation route in the Upper Keys also had reluctantly boarded up their properties. A sign outside Island Silver and Spice in Islamorada said "Closed Til Ike Passes." At the Village Gourmet diner, only three customers showed up for breakfast Monday.

"It kills my business," owner David Gillon said of the evacuation orders. "It's hard enough to make it in the Keys as it is. Every time they do these evacuations, it's two weeks to a month before you get back to where it was."

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba Sunday night, slamming into Holguin province at 9:45 p.m. EDT as a dangerous Category 3 storm.

Ike reduced buildings to rubble and wiped out crops, according to a report by CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami. The hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm early Monday as it moved over Cuba, with wind speeds still at about 100 mph.

Though Ike's storm surge still could push up to 3 feet of water into the Keys, officials said flooding isn't a concern.

"This isn't going to be anything like Fay," Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said.

Fay came ashore with gusty winds and downpours, leaving spotty flooding up to 3 feet deep in some places of town, but largely spared Key West of any major damage.

Ike's winds and massive storm surge ripped apart houses and toppled trees Monday in Cuba as it headed across the country toward Havana and its historic but decaying old buildings. More than 770,000 Cubans evacuated to shelters or higher ground.

Ike tore through Cuba after roaring across the Caribbean, killing at least 58 people in Haiti. Forecasters had the storm track continuing west over Cuba's western coast before taking aim at the Gulf of Mexico.

And once again, New Orleans - still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav last week - could be in the crosshairs as Ike winds through its uncertain path.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Sunday for Ike and urged residents to get ready to head north again. He said so-called "hurricane fatigue" should not prevent people from evacuating their homes for the second time in 10 days.

"We are likely going to have to become accustomed to evacuating more frequently than when we were younger," Jindal said.
© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
View of the sky over Havana' s harbor on the impending arrival of Hurricane Ike, on September 7, 2008.
View of the sky over Havana' s harbor on the impending arrival of Hurricane Ike, on September 7, 2008.

Getty Images



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The low-lying Florida Keys may avoid a direct hit... IF radar, and sateelite imagery is to be trusted...
Hurricane Ike on track to veer away from Keys
September 08, 2008 1:41 PM EDT

KEY WEST, Fla. - Authorities called off evacuation orders for the Florida Keys on Monday as a ferocious Hurricane Ike shifted south over Cuba and appeared on track to miss the low-lying U.S. island chain.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that it was still too early to tell where Ike would strike after entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday night. Gulf Coast communities as far away as Texas were keeping a nervous eye on the storm, especially in Louisiana, where residents are still recovering from Hurricane Gustav.

Evacuation orders for residents expired at noon Monday. Authorities suggested residents wait until Wednesday to return and urged those who had not left to stay indoors until any errant squalls passed. Tourists should wait until the weekend to come back.

A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch remained in effect for the Keys, though Ike's expected track was well south and west of the islands.

Most storm-hardened Keys residents said they had never intended to leave, or even worry.

"Us folks have lived here for years. We worry but we always think it will be OK," said 80-year-old Barbara Kellner while walking her dog in Key West early Monday. "And we see the weather report today, and it appears it all will be OK."

Key West residents are a hardy bunch, generations of whom have lived through storms. They typically take a wait-and-see stance, and Monroe County officials had anticipated that most of the roughly 25,000 residents of the Lower Keys would have stayed put through Ike.

Some of those residents complained that authorities needlessly scared people away.

"I think they called the guns out a little too soon. They killed business," said Deborah Dietrich, the manager of a nearly empty bakery. "Whether we have hurricane ruin or not, there's financial ruin."

Dietrich said the Croissants de France bakery would be lucky to tally $300 in sales for the weekend. They usually bring in more than $6,000 each day of an average weekend with no storm looming, she said.

Monroe County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro said he didn't regret telling tourists and residents to get out of town ahead of Ike, though he acknowledged that such orders are costly. He estimated businesses throughout the Keys lost about $10 million because of evacuations for Tropical Storm Fay last month.

Officials estimate tourists spend about $175 a day in the Keys. With some 20,000 having fled for Ike, that's about $3.5 million for each day they're gone.

Many business owners along the evacuation route in the Upper Keys also had reluctantly boarded up their properties. A sign outside Island Silver and Spice in Islamorada said "Closed Til Ike Passes." At the Village Gourmet diner, only three customers showed up for breakfast Monday.

"It kills my business," owner David Gillon said of the evacuation orders. "It's hard enough to make it in the Keys as it is. Every time they do these evacuations, it's two weeks to a month before you get back to where it was."

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba Sunday night, slamming into Holguin province at 9:45 p.m. EDT as a dangerous Category 3 storm. The hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm early Monday as it moved over Cuba, with wind speeds still at about 100 mph.

Though Ike's storm surge still could push up to 3 feet of water into the Keys, officials said flooding isn't a concern.

"This isn't going to be anything like Fay," Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said.

Fay came ashore with gusty winds and downpours, leaving spotty flooding up to 3 feet deep in some places of town, but largely spared Key West of any major damage.

Ike's winds and massive storm surge ripped apart houses and toppled trees Monday in Cuba as it headed across the country toward Havana and its historic but decaying old buildings. More than 770,000 Cubans evacuated to shelters or higher ground.

Ike tore through Cuba after roaring across the Caribbean, killing at least 58 people in Haiti. Forecasters had the storm track continuing west over Cuba's western coast before taking aim at the Gulf of Mexico.

And once again, New Orleans - still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav last week - could be in the crosshairs as Ike winds through its uncertain path.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Sunday for Ike and urged residents to get ready to head north again. He said so-called "hurricane fatigue" should not prevent people from evacuating their homes for the second time in 10 days.

"We are likely going to have to become accustomed to evacuating more frequently than when we were younger," Jindal said.



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Hurricane IKE Public Advisory

Home   Public Adv   Fcst/Adv   Discussion   Wind Probs   Maps/Charts   Archive  

US Watch/Warning   
000
WTNT34 KNHC 092043
TCPAT4
BULLETIN
HURRICANE IKE ADVISORY NUMBER  35
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL092008
500 PM EDT TUE SEP 09 2008

...IKE EMERGES INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO...

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CUBAN PROVINCES OF
MATANZAS...LA HABANA...CIUDAD DE HABANA...PINAR DEL RIO...AND THE
ISLE OF YOUTH.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM
OCEAN REEF SOUTHWARD TO THE DRY TORTUGAS...INCLUDING FLORIDA BAY.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 500 PM EDT...2100Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED JUST
OFF THE NORTHERN COAST OF WESTERN CUBA NEAR LATITUDE 22.9
NORTH...LONGITUDE 83.8 WEST OR ABOUT 90 MILES...145 KM...WEST-
SOUTHWEST OF HAVANA CUBA.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH...17 KM/HR...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 75 MPH...120 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  IKE IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. 
NOW THAT IKE HAS EMERGED INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO...STRENGTHENING IS
EXPECTED AND IKE COULD BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE IN THE CENTRAL GULF
OF MEXICO.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175
MILES...280 KM.

THE MOST RECENT MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE MEASURED BY AN AIR FORCE
RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WAS 968 MB...28.59 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE
EXPECTED IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS ALONG THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN
COASTS OF CUBA.  STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 1 TO 3 FEET...ALONG WITH
LARGE AND DANGEROUS WAVES...ARE POSSIBLE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS.

LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY IKE WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE EAST COAST
OF FLORIDA FOR THE NEXT DAY OR SO.  THESE SWELLS COULD GENERATE
DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING RIP CURRENTS.

IKE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES
OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL CUBA...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF UP
TO 20 INCHES POSSIBLE. THESE RAINS ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE LIFE-
THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES OVER MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.
RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE
FLORIDA KEYS.

ISOLATED TORNADOES AND WATERSPOUTS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE FLORIDA
KEYS AND EXTREME SOUTH FLORIDA THROUGH TONIGHT.

REPEATING THE 500 PM EDT POSITION...22.9 N...83.8 W.  MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH.  MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...75
MPH.  MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...968 MB.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 800 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 1100
PM EDT.



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Evacuations Begin As Ike Rumbles Toward Texas

images_image_281093753.gif CBS News Interactive: 2008 Storm Tracker

McALLEN, Texas (CBS) Hurricane Ike barreled across the warm, energizing waters of the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday on its way toward the Texas coast after crashing through Cuba's tobacco country and toppling aging Havana buildings.

Forecasters said the Category 1 storm was already strengthening over open waters after leaving Cuba and could grow into a massive Category 3 storm before slamming into Texas, northern Mexico or western Louisiana.

The forecast prompted Texas officials to go into the initial phases of evacuation mode.

Residents of the Corpus Christi area who have special medical needs were to be put on buses Wednesday morning and taken to San Antonio, and state troopers and local police were to guide traffic along an evacuation route, Interstate 37.

Emergency officials also prepared to evacuate a million people from the impoverished Rio Grande Valley. Almost 1,000 buses were lined up in case the need arose to move out the many poor and elderly people who have no cars.

Texas put 7,500 National Guard members on standby Tuesday and urged coastal residents to stock up on supplies.

Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean.

Cuban state television said some 2.6 million people - nearly a fourth of the island's population - sought refuge from Ike, which killed four people and shredded hundreds of homes as it swept across the country.

As it left Cuba, Hurricane Ike delivered a punishing blow to towns such as Los Palacios, which already suffered a direct hit from a Category-4 Hurricane Gustav on Aug. 30.

In a poor neighborhood along the train tracks, the combined fury of Ike and Gustav left nearly two-thirds of the wooden homes without roofs or completely leveled.

"The first one left me something, but this one left me nothing," said Olga Atiaga, a 53-year-old housewife. Gustav obliterated her roof and some walls. Then Ike blew away a mattress and smashed the kitchen sink.

"I don't even have anything to sleep on," she said.

Odalis Cruz, a 45-year-old housing inspector, said she evacuated to a shelter in the town's rice mill when it became clear Ike was following Gustav's path through Pinar del Rio, the westernmost province where Cuba produces tobacco used in its famous cigars.

She surveyed the damage to her home Tuesday.

"We repaired the roof two days ago and this one took the new one," she said. "I'm ready to move to Canada! We have spent eight days drying out things, cleaning everything, sleeping on the floor, and now we are hit again."

Gustav damaged at least 100,000 homes but didn't kill anyone because of massive evacuations. Cubans were ordered to evacuate for Ike as well, with those in low-lying or wooden homes seeking safety with friends or relatives in sturdier structures. Others were taken to government shelters.

State television said two men were killed removing an antenna from a roof, a woman died when her home collapsed and a man was killed by a falling tree.

Evacuations are not mandatory except for pregnant women and small children, but in an authoritarian state, few people ignore the government's advice.

In Havana, towering waves broke over the seaside Malecon promenade as downpours soaked historic but crumbling buildings in the capital's picturesque older areas. Some of the most dilapidated structures collapsed, including four houses on a single block.

While Ike was expected to strengthen before making landfall again, oil prices closed below $104 a barrel for the first time since early April, in part because traders were betting Ike would miss critical Gulf Coast oil installations.

Mexican officials warned that unrelated heavy rains in the northern part of the country had caused more than a dozen dams to reach capacity or spill over. If Ike brings more rain to the area, evacuations may be needed.

Early Wednesday, Ike was located 100 miles north-northeast of Cabo San Antonio on the western tip of Cuba and moving west-northwest at 7 mph. Maximum sustained winds remained near 80 mph, still at Category 1 storm.

Meanwhile Tropical Storm Lowell was off Mexico's Pacific coast, projected to cut across the Baja California Peninsula on Wednesday or Thursday and emerge over the Gulf of California near the town of Loreto, popular with U.S. tourists. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, but was expected to weaken before hitting land.
© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Waves batter the Malecon waterfront in Havana, hours before the arrival of Hurricane Ike, on September 9, 2008.
Waves batter the Malecon waterfront in Havana, hours before the arrival of Hurricane Ike, on September 9, 2008.

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Texans Ordered Out As 'Dangerous' Ike Approaches

images_image_281093753.gif CBS News Interactive: 2008 Storm Tracker

HOUSTON (AP) Authorities in the Houston area and along the Southeast Texas Gulf Coast ordered hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate Thursday as Hurricane Ike lumbered toward the coast and threatened to grow even stronger.

Traffic was building on roadways leading away from low-lying areas in Galveston County, and officials urged residents to finish storm preparations quickly. Some gas stations were running out of fuel as residents scurried to leave.

"It's a big storm. I cannot overemphasize the danger that is facing us," Gov. Rick Perry said at a news conference. "It's going to do some substantial damage. It's going to knock out power. It's going to cause massive flooding."

Forecasters issued a hurricane warning for the Texas Gulf Coast from the Louisiana state line to near Corpus Christi. The warning, which also extended east along much of the Louisiana coast to Morgan City, means hurricane conditions could reach the coast by late Friday with the front edge of the storm before its powerful center hits land over the weekend.

In Houston, gleaming skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas that could be vulnerable to wind and floodwaters if Ike crashes ashore as a major hurricane.

Ike is expected to become at least a Category 3 storm, with winds upward of 111 mph, before it comes ashore, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Some forecasts indicate Ike could grow to a Category 4, with winds of at least 131 mph. Emergency officials warned it could drive a storm surge as high as 18 feet.

If current projections of the storm's path hold up, the area surrounding Houston -- home to about 4 million people -- would be lashed by the eastern or "dirty" side of the storm, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, co-founder of San Francisco-based Weather Underground. This stronger side often has punishing rains, walloping storm surge and tornadoes.

Authorities were hoping to avoid the traffic gridlock of three years ago, when Hurricane Rita threatened the area, and urged people who don't live in eight specific zip codes in the low-lying areas and near Galveston Bay to remain at home.

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

Evacuation orders were also issued for all of Jefferson and Orange counties, an area home to more than 320,000 people between Houston and the Louisiana state line, and part of San Patricio County farther south.

In Tierra Grande, a low-lying rural neighborhood, or colonia, south of Corpus Christi, residents struggled with the cost of evacuation and the strong pull to stay with their homes and animals. Few, if any, appeared to be leaving.

Diana Acevedo said she and her family considered leaving their double-wide trailer, but they had called around and it was too late to find a place to stay. Looking out at a rickety swingset and tricycle in the front yard, Acevedo said they would pick up loose items today and perhaps board windows like some of her neighbors.

"I think it's going to get really bad," she said. In previous heavy rains, water filled with sewage from flooded septic tanks has lapped near her door, more than two feet off the ground.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas extended a mandatory evacuation that had covered the west side of the island, unprotected by a seawall, to the entire island.

She said the city, virtually destroyed by a hurricane in 1900 that killed more than 6,000 people and remains the nation's worst natural disaster, will not open shelters. She advised those who chose to ignore the order to have supplies like food, water and medicine and secure their homes.

"This is a very hard call for me to make but our intent is to save lives," she said. "We believe it is best for people to leave."

In Louisiana, where Labor Day's Hurricane Gustav was blamed for 29 deaths, officials closed flood gates and state offices along the coast.

"Today would be a good time for folks to fuel up their cars, just to make sure they have sufficient supplies," Gov. Bobby Jindal said, adding the state corrections department had evacuated about 1,400 prisoners from Cameron and Calcasieu parishes in the state's southwest.

Ike was a Category 2 storm as of 2 p.m. EDT Thursday with top sustained winds near 100 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was over the Gulf's energizing warm waters about 440 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi and moving west-northwest near 10 mph after ravaging homes in Cuba and killing dozens of people in the Caribbean.

The Port of Houston, the nation's second largest port, planned to shut down operations Thursday afternoon and remain closed until Monday.

The oil and gas industry also watched the storm closely, fearing damage to the very heart of its operations.

Refineries on the upper Texas coast account for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity. Exxon Mobil Corp.'s plant in Baytown, outside Houston, is the nation's largest refinery. Exxon Mobil, Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies halting operations as the storm closed in.

Refineries are built to withstand high winds, but flooding can disrupt operations and -- as happened in Louisiana after Hurricane Gustav -- power outages can shut down equipment for days or weeks.

Supply concerns sent wholesale gasoline prices soaring to record levels between $4 and $5 a gallon Thursday. That means retailers will pay more for gasoline, and consumers can expect hikes at the pump. How much gas prices rise, analysts say, depends largely on how long refineries remain shuttered after the storm passes.

Dow Chemical Co. was shutting down its enormous Freeport facility, home to 75 plants producing some 27 billion pounds of chemical or chemical products each year, and its 139-acre LaPorte site, said Dow spokesman David Winder.

In the Florida Panhandle, Ike pushed up storm surge that flooded a highway on Okaloosa Island as the storm passed in the Gulf. U.S. Highway 98 was closed, and was expected to stay closed through Saturday. The Panhandle, where surf was up to 5 feet higher than usual in some places, also was under a high surf warning, and emergency officials urged beach-goers to stay out of the rough water.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Traffic was building on roadways leading away from low-lying areas in Galveston County, and officials urged residents to finish storm preparations quickly. Some gas stations were running out of fuel as residents scurried to leave.
Traffic was building on roadways leading away from low-lying areas in Galveston County, and officials urged residents to finish storm preparations quickly. Some gas stations were running out of fuel as residents scurried to leave.

 


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