Hurricane Ike moved over warm Caribbean water off the Cuban coast today after blowing off roofs, toppling trees and flattening sugar cane fields on a path toward US oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
The deadly hurricane lost some of its power over Cuba but was still causing widespread damage. It could restrengthen south of Cuba over warm water, "a very powerful fuel," said forecaster Jose Rubiera of the Cuban weather service.
Ike's approach further disrupted energy output from the Gulf, which produces a quarter of US oil and 15 per cent of its natural gas. Much of that production was first shut down before Hurricane Gustav pounded the region last week.
Ike was expected to hit eastern Texas, but a small deviation could threaten New Orleans, the city swamped in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina killed 1,500 people and caused $80 billion in damage on the US Gulf Coast. Gustav narrowly missed the low-lying city protected by floodwalls and levees.
Ike tore roofs off houses when it hit Britain's Turks and Caicos Islands as a ferocious Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, and floods triggered by its torrential rains were blamed for at least 61 deaths in Haiti, where Tropical Storm Hanna killed 500 last week.
Ike weakened to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds after roaring ashore in northeastern Cuba late yesterday near Punta Lucrecia, about 510 miles southeast of Havana.
Cuba's state-run television showed huge waves slamming into the sea wall and surging as high as nearby five-story apartment buildings before flooding the streets of the city of Baracoa near the eastern tip of the Communist-ruled island.
The storm stripped ripening coffee from trees in the east, where 85 per cent of Cuba's coffee is grown, paralyzed the nickel industry and destroyed sugar infrastructure. Sugar prices rose as Ike moved across the key Caribbean growing region.
Forecasters said Ike would pass near or over Havana as it leaves the island. Authorities began evacuating tens of thousands of residents from crumbling tenements, low-lying neighbourhoods and areas along the north coast.
Officials said at least 1.5 million people were evacuated from vulnerable areas in Cuba, which is still reeling from Hurricane Gustav's strike on western provinces last week.
Just to the north of Cuba, schools, hospitals and government offices were closed in the Florida Keys, a 110-mile island chain connected by a single road. The islands were not expected to take a direct hit, but tourists were evacuated. Residents had also been ordered out but that measure was allowed to expire as Ike took a more southerly route.
The storm dumped more rain on Haiti, which has been swamped by four storms in the last few weeks. Officials said 57 of the 61 victims died in Cabaret, a town north of the capital.
The US Navy ship Kearsarge arrived near Haiti on Monday with eight helicopters and three landing craft to help deliver relief supplies, the US military said.
Forecaster expected Ike to be a Category 1 hurricane when it emerges from Cuba's north coast.
It is then expected to strengthen to a Category 3 with sustained winds above 110 mph when it approaches the US coast on Saturday. Its likeliest destination was east Texas, but several computer models take it ashore in Louisiana west of New Orleans, not far from where Gustav hit last week.
Energy companies delayed the restart of offshore oil and natural gas production because of Ike, which was likely to pare inventories in coming weeks. Shell Oil Co said it planned to evacuate all Gulf offshore personnel by Wednesday.
Reuters