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Hurricane Ike headed for Texas or Mexico
Storm levels buildings in Cuba; at least 80 killed in Caribbean
AP Photo
A resident of Florida, Cuba, wades through floodwaters past a roadside memorial that was dislodged by Hurricane Ike.
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AP INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
» DEADLY IKE: Category 1 hurricane kills 4 in Cuba, heads toward Gulf of Mexico
Published: September 10, 2008
Updated: 09/10/2008 07:38 am
HAVANA
Hurricane Ike moved into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at the U.S. and Mexican coasts yesterday after bringing down aging buildings in Havana and tearing through western Cuba's tobacco country.
Forecasters said that Ike, which has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, could strengthen into a powerful Category 3 storm before slamming into Texas or Mexico this weekend.
About 1.2 million people -- more than a tenth of Cuba's population -- sought refuge from Ike, which killed four people and shredded hundreds of homes as it barreled across the island.
Winds howled and rains lashed the empty streets of Havana as towering waves broke over the seaside Malecon promenade, devoid of the bustling crowds of Havana residents who normally fish and chat by day and drink and socialize at night. Navigation was banned in Havana Bay, its usually placid surface stirred up by white-capped waves.
Police went out into the storm to stop all but emergency traffic in streets littered with branches, stones and the rubble from crumbling balconies.
The heavy rains soaked the buildings of Havana's picturesque older areas, causing some of the more dilapidated buildings to collapse. Four houses on a single block were reduced to rubble when their walls came tumbling down with a loud boom, and work crews labored with heavy machinery in the strong winds to clear the rubble from the street.
Collapsing buildings were reported throughout the city, and more were likely in coming days as the structures dry out and weaken. All of the buildings appeared to have been evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
To the west, reports of damage were still sketchy as Ike moved across the region. Dangerous storm surges were reported along the southwestern coast, which is lined with small fishing villages. State news media said that 19 coastal communities were evacuated.
State television said that reservoir levels in the western province of Pinar del Rio were dangerously close to overflowing and flooding nearby communities and roads.
Many in the region, where most of Cuba's famed tobacco is grown, were still without power and water after monstrous Hurricane Gustav struck as a Category 4 storm Aug. 30. That storm damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage, but did not kill anyone because of evacuations.
Cuba was evacuated for Ike as well, with hundreds of thousands finding safety with friends, relatives or at government shelters. Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children, but in an authoritarian state, few people ignore the government's advice.
Teresa Tejeda said she was too scared to stay in her shaky old apartment building, and she joined several hundred other elderly people at a government shelter.
"My house has really bad walls, and I feel much more secure here," said Tejeda, who is in her 70s.
Police told Niyel Rodriguez, 21, that she had to move to a shelter with her 19-day-old daughter, Chanel. She huddled yesterday with 109 expectant and new mothers and their children in a wing of an Old Havana maternity hospital.
"They came looking for me yesterday and brought me here in a patrol car," Rodriguez said. "I probably would have been scared to stay at home with my little one, and here they take good care of us. They give us breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything we need for the babies."
Officials evacuated about 10,000 tourists from vulnerable seaside hotels.
Francisco Camps, the operations manager for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts in Cuba, said that no major problems were reported at the Spanish chain's 24 hotels on the island, and no guests were hurt. Ike broke some windows and caused roof damage at two of its hotels in the eastern province of Holguin, he said.
Spanish tourists Jose Luis and Avelina Alonso spent the last day of their Cuban vacation in the lobby of an Old Havana hotel. They were getting free meals, but said that the weather had wrecked their vacation plans.
"We arrived with Gustav and we are leaving with Ike," Jose Luis Alonso said.
State television said that four people died as Ike moved across the island, including two men killed while removing an antenna from a roof, a woman who died when her home collapsed, and a man killed by a falling tree.
Out in the Gulf, Ike was expected to strengthen before hitting the coast in Texas or northern Mexico this weekend.
"When it's out of Cuba it has the potential to become a lot stronger," said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
However, oil prices closed below $104 a barrel for the first time since early April, in part because traders were betting that Ike would miss critical Gulf Coast oil installations.
Mexican officials said that unrelated heavy rains in the northern part of the country had caused more than 10 dams to reach capacity or spill over. If Ike brings more rain to the area, evacuations could be needed.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lowell was off Mexico's Pacific coast, projected to cut across the Baja California Peninsula today or Thursday and emerge over the Gulf of California near the town of Loreto, popular with U.S. tourists.
Lowell had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, but it was expected to weaken before reaching land.
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