HURRICANE SEASON 2008

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By early Saturday, the wind howled with gusts near 50 mph and rain came in blinding bursts in Myrtle Beach. The lights flickered several times along some beachfront blocks and the wind was so strong that it made waves in hotel pools. Several roads flooded at the peak of the storm, including U.S. 17 in Georgetown, which was shut down for several hours.

But nearly all the flooding was gone before daybreak, said Georgetown County Emergency Management Division spokesman Greg Troutman.

"We lucked out. There's not much out there to report," Troutman said after daybreak Saturday. "But it was good to dust off the ol' emergency plan."

The storm also was causing some travel headaches. Raleigh-Durham International Airport canceled a few dozen flights Saturday morning. Amtrak idled 10 trains, including the Silver Meteor between New York and Miami, and the Auto Train between Lorton, Va., and Sanford, Fla.

Hanna raced up the Atlantic coast, set to leave North Carolina by midday. Rain had started and the surf was picking up on the shore in New Jersey, and Hanna should reach New England by Sunday morning.

Tropical storm watches or warnings were issued from the Carolinas to Massachusetts, and included all of Chesapeake Bay, the Washington, D.C., area and Long Island. The storm has been blamed for disastrous flooding and more than 100 deaths in Haiti.

Expectations of heavy rain forced NASCAR to postpone Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race to Sunday afternoon at Richmond International Raceway.

Organizers of the U.S. Open in New York said they may have to reschedule some of the tennis matches after seeing forecasts calling for about 12 hours of rain and wind up to 35 mph.

For all the talk of Hanna, there was more about Ike, which could become the fiercest storm to strike South Florida since 1992 when Hurricane Andrew did more than $26 billion damage and was blamed for 65 deaths.

To prepare for Ike that could hit the U.S. by midweek, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was positioning supplies, search and rescue crews, communications equipment and medical teams in Florida and along the Gulf Coast — a task complicated by the hurricane's changing path. Tourists in the Florida Keys were ordered to leave beginning Saturday morning.

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Mike Baker reported from Nags Head, N.C. Associated Press writers Estes Thompson in Morehead City, N.C., Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C., and Jeffrey Collins in Myrtle Beach, S.C., contributed to this report.

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                                  Storm death toll in Haiti exceeds 500:





UN
20 minutes ago

Sept. 6, 2008


ZURICH (AFP) - The death toll in Haiti from Tropical Storm Hanna has exceeded 500 and is growing by the hour, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Saturday.
 
"The toll is increasing hourly," an OCHA official told AFP, adding that "according to information from the government (in Port-au-Prince) we have reached more than 500 deaths."

Previous reports said at least 163 people had been killed during the passage of Hanna, which deluged Haiti early this week just eight days after Hurricane Gustav caused around 77 deaths.

Tropical Storm Fay two weeks ago killed another 40 people in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas with 70 percent of its people living in poverty and mountainous terrain prone to mudslides.

The worst-hit city was Gonaives, Haiti's third largest, which was flooded after being hit by Hanna Monday and Tuesday, leaving some 200,000 people with little food or water since the storm.

Haiti had pleaded for emergency international aid after the late-summer conga line of storms laid waste to parts of Hispaniola, the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic.

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                                 Aid slowly reaching hurricane-battered Haiti as toll mounts





by Clarens Renois
Fri Sep 5, 2008
 
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - International emergency aid was providing a tentative lifeline to hundreds of thousands of displaced Haitians without food or water who faced "catastrophic" conditions after a trio of fierce storms devastated the impoverished nation.

 
Several tons of critically needed relief supplies were trickling in Friday to hard-hit communities in a country where at least 163 people have been killed by Tropical Storm Hanna, which deluged Haiti early this week just eight days after Gustav caused some 77 deaths.

Tropical Storm Fay two weeks ago killed another 40 people in the country.

The worst-hit city was Gonaives, Haiti's third largest and on the northwest coast, which was flooded after being hit by Hanna Monday and Tuesday, leaving some 200,000 people with little food or water since the storm.

Senator Yuri Latortue, who represents Gonaives, called the situation "catastrophic."

"I know perfectly well that the hurricane season has hit our entire country, but the situation in Gonaives is truly special, because now some 200,000 people there haven't eaten in three days," he said.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) earlier this week began flying helicopter to Gonaives to rescue those stranded by the high water.

At least 119 of the Hanna deaths occured in the northern Artibonite region, where Gonaives is located, civil protection officials said.

Haiti's Senate voted late Thursday to declare a state of emergency in the city, 152 kilometers (94 miles) north of Port-au-Prince.

A boat docked Friday at Gonaives carrying UN World Food Programme (WFP) supplies including food, drinking water and hygiene kits for thousands who were displaced by the latest storm.

"WFP has first-rate logistics, and this storm is putting us to the test," WFP representative in Haiti Myrta Kaulard said, adding that the agency was "anticipating further emergency needs from approaching storms."

Haiti had pleaded for emergency international aid after the conga line of storms laid waste to parts of Hispaniola, the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic.

"The United Nations is in the process of launching an emergency international appeal," Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in Geneva.

Switzerland promised aid worth one million Swiss francs (901,000 dollars) and the US Agency for International Development has allocated 100,000 dollars to help the impoverished Caribbean republic, OCHA said.

In Brussels, the European Commission launched "fast-track" aid action for two million euros to provide relief for Haitians, the EU's executive arm said.

The Red Cross said it launched an urgent appeal Friday for 2.3 million euros (3.4 million dollars) for Haiti.

Thousands of Red Cross volunteers "are working round the clock" to help the mounting number of victims, the organization said in a statement.

Mountainous Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas with more than 70 percent of the population in poverty, is especially prone to flash-flooding and mudslides. Haitians have cut down most trees and bushes to make cooking fires, which causes erosion and worsens flooding.

The airport in the capital Port-au-Prince reopened Wednesday, allowing a group of UN experts to evaluate the extent of the damage.

"Nine out of 10 regions in Haiti were seriously affected as a result of the double impact of the tropical storms Gustav and Hanna," OCHA said.

Michele Pierre-Louis, Haiti's new prime minister approved Friday to take office after four months of political standstill, now will have to manage a grim humanitarian crisis.

President Rene Preval said he was distressed by events and urged the international community to rally to Haiti's aid.

The Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) has sent five tonnes of aid, including emergency kits and tarpaulins.

France was sending a ship to Haiti with a helicopter aboard to help with search and rescue operations and channelling aid to the hardest hit areas. Spain also was sending four jetloads of humanitarian aid to Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica.

Meanwhile Hurricane Ike was forecast to spare Haiti as it plowed across the Atlantic and into the Bahamas, US National Hurricane Center forecaster Karina Castillo said in Miami.

"At least for now" Haiti looks likely to be spared yet another hit, she said, adding that Ike may graze northeastern Cuba.

Ike is forecast to then make landfall in south Florida on Wednesday as a major hurricane.

Densely populated south Florida, including the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, has not been hit by a major hurricane since devastating Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Andrew was the costliest natural disaster in US history until it was topped by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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                                    Hanna dumps rain on mid-Atlantic, heads north






By WHITNEY WOODWARD,
Associated Press Writer

21 minutes ago
 Sept. 6, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tropical Storm Hanna accelerated toward New England on Saturday after the storm's whipping winds and rain didn't linger long enough over the Southeast to cause much more than some isolated flooding and power outages.
 
Hanna moved quickly inland after cruising ashore overnight with winds of around 50 mph. But as the storm cleared out of the Southeast, eyes turned to the open Atlantic and the nasty looking Hurricane Ike — again a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds that was expected to strengthen as it approached Cuba and southern Florida by Monday.

By comparison, Hanna, which was heading toward the lower Chesapeake Bay, was a breeze.

"Right now we're just keeping an eye on things and making sure we stay ahead of the eight-ball," said Moore County, N.C., public safety director Carlton Cole. "It's nowhere near as bad as it could have been."

Heavy rain fell in the Carolinas, including 5 inches in Fayetteville and the Sandhills region. The same was forecast for central Virginia, Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New York and New England, where some spots could get up to 10 inches. Forecasters warned of the potential for flash flooding in the northern mid-Atlantic states and southern New England.

Rain was falling and the surf was picking up on the shore in New Jersey, and Hanna should reach New England by Sunday morning.

Tropical storm watches or warnings were issued all the way to Massachusetts, and included all of Chesapeake Bay, the Washington, D.C., area and Long Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. There were no reports of any deaths or injuries in the U.S. attributed to Hanna, which was blamed for disastrous flooding and more than 100 deaths in Haiti.

At least 2,000 people spent the night in shelters and almost 100,000 customers along the East Coast had no power midday Saturday.

And the Coast Guard closed all navigable waters in the Port of Hampton Roads, the lower Maryland Eastern Shore and the Port of Richmond, Va., on the James River. Maryland authorities issued wind warnings on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

In the resort town of Ocean City, Md., Beach Patrol Capt. Butch Arbin ordered lifeguards posted at all entrances to the 10 1/2-mile beach to urge people to stay well back from the towering waves.

But that didn't keep surfers from trying to ride the swells that doubled to 12 feet by late morning.

"We're just really excited to have some sort of waves," said 20-year-old Taylor Thonton of Westchester, Pa.

At Ocean Isle Beach, south of Wilmington, N.C., the storm damaged a road that was already under assault from beach erosion. Elsewhere along the Eastern seaboard, folks quickly moved to reclaim the weekend from the storm.

"It looks like it's going to be a great weekend on the Grand Strand," said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

On North Carolina's Outer Banks, the stinging sand and sea spray didn't keep 78-year-old William Cusick from getting up early to walk his dog on the beach.

"I don't see anything too exciting about this — it's not too serious," Cusick said.

The storm did cause some travel headaches. Raleigh-Durham International Airport canceled a few dozen flights Saturday morning, and there were also some cancellations at Ronald Reagan National and Dulles International in the Washington D.C. area. Amtrak idled 10 trains, including the Silver Meteor between New York and Miami, and the Auto Train between Lorton, Va., and Sanford, Fla.

Weekend sports were also impacted. Expectations of heavy rain forced NASCAR to postpone Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race to Sunday afternoon at Richmond International Raceway. Organizers of the U.S. Open in New York said they may have to reschedule some of the tennis matches and the first game of a scheduled day-night doubleheader between the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles was postponed.

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Associated Press writers Estes Thompson in Morehead City, Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, Mike Baker in Nags Head, Jeffrey Collins in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and David Dishneau in Ocean City, Md., contributed to this report.

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                                  Growing Ike nears Turks and Caicos, south Bahamas






By BEN FOX,
Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago
Sept. 6, 2008

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos - Hurricane Ike loomed over this low-lying island chain Saturday as a dangerous Category 4 storm, prompting thousands of people to evacuate while those staying behind hunkered down and hoped for the best.
 
As the massive gray wall of clouds approached from the east, people poured into the main supermarket in Providenciales, expecting that power would be knocked out and that food would suddenly become scarce.

Shopkeepers and homeowners covered windows with plywood. Boats were hauled ashore or secured with multiple anchors.

"I am very, very nervous," said John Moore, a fishing boat captain, as he tied down his 61-foot vessel in a Providenciales cove. "It looks like it might go right over us, so that's not a good picture."

Ike's eye was about 60 miles (105 kilometers) east of Grand Turk Island Saturday evening. It was moving west-southwest about 12 mph (18 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's maximum sustained winds were 135 mph (215 kph).

The governments of the Bahamas and Cuba issued hurricane warnings.

The approach of the hurricane also raised alarm in Haiti, where aid officials feared it could worsen deadly flooding. And Cuba, still recovering from a devastating hit by Category 4 Hurricane Gustav last month, was directly in Ike's projected path.

Forecasters said Ike was expected to reach the northern coast of eastern Cuba Sunday night or early Monday. Cuba's government warned people to be ready to take emergency action, but hotels said they had not yet started evacuating foreign guests.

The storm was not expected to affect Saturday's World Cup soccer qualifier between the United States and Cuba in Havana.

U.S. military commanders at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base in southeast Cuba were coordinating storm preparations and securing anything that might be carried by the wind, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Lamb. The U.S. base holds some 255 men suspected on links to the Taliban and al-Qaida in hurricane-proof cells.

Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick said his government opened a half dozen shelters and brought in an emergency food shipment.

"We're still praying that the storm will make a northerly turn and we will be spared, even a little bit," Misick told The Associated Press. "It's difficult to predict a storm of this magnitude."

Turks and Caicos and the neighboring Bahamas are close to sea level and are vulnerable to flooding from rain and storm surge.

To reach Haitian immigrants, many of them illegal, the government broadcast emergency messages in Creole and told law enforcement figures not to enforce immigration laws during the storm.

"At a time of disaster, the last thing on our mind is whether you are legal or not," Misick said. "The important thing is to save lives."

The airport in Providenciales closed after thousands of tourists and longtime residents of the typically tranquil island chain evacuated.

In the Bahamas, the government urged tourists to evacuate the sparsely populated southeastern islands and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force dispatched marines to bring food and water to the eastern islands of Mayaguana and San Salvador.

Turks and Caicos, a British territory, was pummeled for four days by Hurricane Hanna earlier this week. It caused widespread flooding and some damage, but did far worse when it drifted toward Haiti as a tropical storm, creating floods that had killed 166 people by Saturday.

Dennis Freeburg, who lives in Providenciales, managed to get a flight out to Florida, but he plans to return to the island chain, which he says is a paradise for scuba divers like him.

"This is just ... the bad part of living down in the Caribbean, you've got to deal with the storms," the 46-year-old said as he waited to board a flight to Miami with his miniature dachshund, Rue.

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Associated Press writer Mike Melia contributed from Nassau, Bahamas.

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                                          Hanna rolls into Connecticut with heavy rain






By The Associated Press
1 hour, 20 minutes ago
Sept. 7, 2008
 
HARTFORD, Conn. - Tropical Storm Hanna rolled into Connecticut on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, wind gusts and oppressive humidity.
 
The storm, which came ashore in the Carolinas on Saturday, is expected to continue dousing New England through the morning.

A flash-flood warning was issued for Fairfield County and for people in low-lying areas and near flood-prone rivers statewide.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service's office in Taunton, Mass., said rain was falling at the rate of up to 1 inch per hour.

Final amounts could reach up to 6 inches by Sunday morning.

As of 5 a.m. EDT, Hanna had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph and was centered 60 miles north of Chatham, Mass. The storm, blamed for disastrous flooding and more than 100 deaths in Haiti, was moving northeast near 36 mph.

No major damage was reported in New York, but it took just a few hours for Hanna to drop a month's worth of rain in the metropolitan area.

The storm was responsible for flooding highways, delaying flights and halting the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Thousands of customers remain without power, mostly on Long Island.

At least three inches of rain fell over parts of New York City and nearly six inches was measured in the northern suburb of Rockland County. The metropolitan area generally gets three to four inches of rain in September.

The National Weather Service says wind gusts reached 40 mph.

Stretches of several highways in the city and its suburbs were closed because of flooding and fallen trees.

In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine said three traffic deaths have been linked to the storm. Kaine said the deaths involved two accidents in Chesterfield County caused by heavy rain.

In Connecticut, Gov. M. Jodi Rell was putting 200 National Guard soldiers and airmen on standby. A flash flood watch has been posted for much of Maine.

Forecasters say 2 to 4 inches are possible in Maine, with higher amounts nearer the coast. Most of the rain is expected to fall during a short period, which could cause flooding in urban areas and along streams.

In Rhode Island, residents were urged to protect their windows and have extra batteries available for flashlights.

Massachusetts officials are worried about flash flooding in urban areas, downed trees and power outages, but aren't expecting huge headaches. The state could receive between 2 and 6 inches of rain. But its rivers are not expected to flood because their levels are relatively low and the ground is particularly dry, all of which could help absorb most of the rainfall brought by Hanna, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Peter Judge said.

"On the other hand, the power issue is a concern with the strong winds associated with at least the east side of the eye of the storm as it comes through — which essentially will be lower southeast Massachusetts, that is the Cape and Islands," which are expected to bear most of the power outages, Judge said.

Hanna brought heavy rains and high winds to New Jersey, but no major weather-related problems were reported.

As of 11 p.m., most areas had seen about 2 to 4 inches of rain, with the higher amounts in northern areas. There were scattered power outages across the state.

The rain also left many roadways flooded, particularly in northern areas where some motorists became stranded when they tried to drive through high waters. A few drivers had to be rescued from their vehicles, but no major traffic problems were reported.

The brunt of the storm passed through the Garden State during the early evening. However, flood warnings and watches remained in effect for many northern areas.

Meteorologists plan to visit Allentown, Pa., to try to determine whether a tornado damaged a high school and surrounding areas.

Witnesses reported seeing a funnel cloud shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday, and strong winds ripped up part of the roof of Dieruff High School in the eastern part of the city. The winds also caused damage to the roofs of other homes in the area, toppled trees and damaged cars.

No injuries were immediately reported.

Hanna didn't linger long enough over the Southeast to cause much more than some isolated flooding and power outages in the Carolinas. However, there were growing concerns about Hurricane Ike — a Category 4 storm with 135 mph winds that was expected to strengthen as it approached Cuba and southern Florida by Monday.

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                                    Powerful Hurricane Ike looms as trouble for Gulf






By BRIAN SKOLOFF,
Associated Press Writer
 
7 minutes ago

Sept. 7, 2008
 
KEY WEST, Fla. - Powerful Hurricane Ike rolled down an uncertain path Sunday that may lead to the U.S. Gulf Coast late this week, forcing emergency officials to pay attention and leaving millions of people from Florida to Mexico to wonder where it will eventually strike.
 
Officials in the Florida Keys planned to start a phased evacuation for residents Sunday morning after telling visitors a day earlier to get out. Ike, a dangerous Category 4 storm with winds early Sunday of near 135 mph, was forecast to affect the Keys starting Monday night on a potential track for the central Gulf.

Ike roared across the low-lying Turks and Caicos island chain before dawn Sunday as people in the British territory sought refuge in emergency shelters or in their homes.

At 8 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ike's eye was just east of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas. It was moving west about 14 mph on a path that would take it near or over eastern Cuba Sunday night and central Cuba late Monday.

"These storms have a mind of their own," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said after a meeting Saturday with mayors and emergency officials. "There are no rules, so what we have to do is be prepared, be smart, vigilant and alert."

Florida Keys officials will begin resident evacuations on the low-lying chain of islands in phases, starting at the end in Key West by 8 a.m. and continuing throughout the day, at noon for the Middle Keys, and at 4 p.m. for the Upper Keys, including Key Largo.

"We do understand the inconvenience of evacuations for Keys residents and visitors, but their safety is our top priority," said Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi. "It's just too close to not react to it."

Still, the streets of Key West were practically empty Sunday morning, but not because of the storm — the town stays up late and sleeps late.

Rick Van Leuven, 46, manager of the Rick's and Durty Harry's Entertainment Complex, said everyone is pretty much waiting until Monday to see where the storm will go.

"None of us are running," he said. "We're all going to stay."

In Haiti, authorities tried to move thousands of people into shelters ahead of Ike while still struggling to recover from a drenching from Tropical Storm Hanna. Rescue workers feared Hanna's death toll could rise into the hundreds in the flooded city of Gonaives if Ike dumped more rain from outer storm bands as the storm rumbled nearby.

In Louisiana, still recovering from last week's Hurricane Gustav, Gov. Bobby Jindal set up a task force to prepare for the possibility of more havoc.

"We're not hoping for another strike, another storm, but we're ready," he said.

Even as Gustav evacuees headed home, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said officials were anxiously monitoring Ike on a projected path toward the Gulf.

"Our citizens are weary and they're tired and they have spent a lot of money evacuating ... from Gustav," he said. He added that if Ike were to threaten, "my expectations this time is, it will be very difficult to move the kind of numbers out of this city that we moved during Gustav."

The storm had sustained winds of near 135 mph and even stronger gusts after muscling up from a Category 3 to a Category 4 storm Saturday. It was moving nearly due west at about 15 mph and expected to turn slightly toward the northwest Monday.

"It's a very dangerous storm," hurricane center meteorologist Colin McAdie told The Associated Press. "There's going to be some ups and downs, but we expect it to remain a major hurricane over the next couple days."

The hurricane center said Ike was generating large swells at sea that could generate life-threatening rip currents along portions of coast in the southeastern U.S.

Tourists were urged to leave the Bahamas, and authorities in the Dominican Republic began evacuating dozens of families from river banks that could flood because of two already overfilled dams.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, Suzette Laboy, Brendan Farrington and Lisa Orkin in Miami, Sarah Larimer in Homestead, Fla.; Becky Bohrer in New Orleans, La.; Ben Fox in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos; Mike Melia in Nassau, Bahamas; Anita Snow in Havana; and Jonathan Katz in Gonaives, Haiti.

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                                  Keys residents weigh evacuation, Gulf Coast next?






By BRIAN SKOLOFF,
Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 40 minutes ago
Sept. 7, 2008
 
KEY WEST, Fla. - With powerful Hurricane Ike still hundreds of miles away and on an uncertain course, residents on these low-lying islands weighed evacuation orders Sunday, perhaps a hint that Gulf Coast residents as far away as Texas and New Orleans may be not heed similar calls to leave.
 
Sunday's forecast had Ike crossing Cuba and headed into the Gulf of Mexico later this week. The Florida Keys were in an uncertain position, and Gulf Coast states even more so. In Texas and Louisiana, where people were just returning from the mass evacuation for a weaker-than-expected Gustav, officials already acknowledged that it may be difficult to get people mobilized again.

In Key West, many residents have their own formula for determining whether to leave. Even though evacuation orders became mandatory Sunday, traffic out of Key West was busy but not jammed.

Mike Tilson, 24, was in wait-and-see mode Sunday, stocking up his Key West houseboat with supplies.

"I got tarps and champagne," he said as he pushed a wheelbarrow of supplies including Heineken beer, ice and a loaf of bread down the dock.

He said if the storm tracks north of Cuba, he'd evacuate. Otherwise, he won't leave even if Key West is expecting a Category 3 (winds of 111-130 mph). "It's just a good party. I'll stay."

At 2 p.m. EDT Sunday, Ike was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 135 mph, moving west at 13 mph. Hurricane force winds stretched 60 miles from the center. It was forecast to track over Cuba, re-emerging over the island's western coast Tuesday morning about 100 miles south of Key West as a Category 1.

Though forecasts suggested the storm was headed into the Gulf, historically, most major storms passing by Ike's position had curved northward. If it gets into the Gulf, it could head anywhere from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, and it likely would strengthen again.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida because of Ike on Sunday and ordered federal money to supplement state and local response efforts.

More than 60 residents and nearly 90 people from a homeless shelter had arrived at a shelter at Florida International University in Miami by afternoon, but many others said they wanted to see what the storm does over Cuba and possibly reassess on Monday.

Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson had a warning for people not wanting to evacuate the area. He said anyone who thinks staying through a major hurricane is "champagne time is someone who hasn't thought it through clearly." He said emergency vehicles would be pulled off the road if the area gets tropical storm force winds.

McPherson said 15,000 tourists had already evacuated the region, and the Key West airport was set to close at 7 p.m. Sunday. Passengers bound for Key West from the Miami International Airport were being asked to show identification proving they lived there and only residents were being allowed on Key Westbound flights.

Among those planning to stay in the United States' southernmost city were Claudia Pennington, 61, director of the Key West Art and Historical Society, who said she's staying to care for the group's three buildings and their contents. Don Guess, 50, was putting up plywood on a friend's house Sunday and said he was sticking around because the storm didn't worry him.

At the Key West Convalescent Center, 70 sick and elderly residents were being evacuated by bus and ambulance to Sunrise on Sunday afternoon.

Edward Koen, 87, sat in his wheelchair outside the center Sunday in the shade, staring up at the blue, sunny skies, waiting for the bus.

"Why should I be nervous, because of a hurricane?" Koen said. He'd rather stay put. "My gosh. I've been living here all my life."

The reluctance to leave didn't surprise Hugh Gladwin, the director of the Institute for Public Opinion Research at Florida International University, who has studied evacuations in Florida and after Hurricane Katrina.

"Yes, there's always a certain number of people who won't evacuate no matter what: they're fatalistic — they like being in hurricanes," Gladwin said.

Compared to other areas, the Keys actually have pretty good participation in evacuations, Gladwin said. That's partially because some residents treat evacuations like snow days in the Northeast: they plan for a certain number every year.

Still, Gladwin said he's never seen more than 80 percent evacuation participation anywhere, even with the biggest and scariest hurricane bearing down. And it can be harder to get people to leave when they've evacuated recently.

In southeast Texas, where many evacuated before Gustav, officials say they are unsure if residents will do the same if Ike comes their way.

"These evacuations are so hard, especially on the elderly. There are quite a few people that say they are not leaving again," said Crystal Holmes, spokeswoman for Southeast Texas Emergency Management. "We ... always worry that we will get something like Hurricane Rita (which hit southeast Texas in 2005), which was devastating for our area."

The inconsistent approach to evacuating areas in the United States stands in contrast to Cuba, where residents typically comply with hurricane evacuations issued by its authoritarian government.

When forecasts projected Ike's eye would strike Cuba's northern coast Sunday night and possibly hit Havana, Cuba evacuated mountainous and coastal regions of Holguin province. Workers rushed to protect coffee plants and other crops while others organized food and cooking-oil distribution efforts.

Some New Orleans residents were already vowing not to evacuate again. David Myers, 39, was one of many residents taking a break from cleaning up the mess left after Hurricane Gustav to cheer on the Saints in their season-opener.

Myers, a physician who rode out Gustav with relatives in Baton Rouge before returning home to New Orleans on Tuesday, said it would take a Category 4 or 5 storm to chase him away again. He expects many other residents who ran from Gustav to balk at evacuating for Ike.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said so-called "hurricane fatigue" should not prevent people there from leaving 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," he said.

Christopher Gargiule, 37, said evacuating for Gustav cost him and his wife, Joanne, more than $1,500, and that they can't afford to leave again even if Ike forces another mandatory evacuation of the city. That's even though their home is 50 yards from a levee that had water splash over it during Gustav.

"We're going to have to hunker down and cross our fingers," Gargiule said.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Deborah Hastings in Miami, Sarah Larimer in Key Largo, Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans and Doug Simpson

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                                        Powerful Hurricane Ike heads for Cuba, Gulf






By Marc Frank
2 hours, 37 minutes ago
Sept. 7, 2008
 
HAVANA (Reuters) - Ferocious Hurricane Ike ripped off roofs in the southern Bahamas on Sunday and Cuba scrambled to move hundreds of thousands of people inland, away from a storm eventually headed toward the U.S. Gulf oil patch and possibly New Orleans.
 
A dangerous Category 4 hurricane with 135 mph (215 kph) winds and a possible 18-foot (5.5 meter) storm surge, Ike bore down on Cuba's northeast coast after raging through Britain's Turks and Caicos, an overseas territory of about 22,000 people, and Great Inagua, the Bahamas' southernmost island.

"This one is quite severe," said Inagua resident Shanie Roker. "There is a lot of wind and rain. Roofs in Matthew Town are being damaged and trees are coming down."

Residents of the Florida Keys, a 110-mile (177-km) island chain connected by bridges with only one road out, were told to evacuate as a precaution.

Ike could follow a path similar to that of Hurricane Gustav through the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana and Texas, possibly threatening New Orleans, the city swamped by Katrina three years ago, and the Gulf energy rigs, which account for a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of natural gas output.

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MOVING TO HIGHER GROUND



Many of Cuba's 11 million people could be affected by Ike, which was expected to move ashore north of Guantanamo Bay -- home to the U.S. Navy base housing the controversial prison camp for terrorism suspects -- and spend nearly two days over the long, narrow island.

Authorities used buses, trucks and other transportation to move thousands of tourists inland from Cuba's prime resorts along the northern coast from Guardalavaca in eastern Holguin to Varadero. Ranchers herded cattle in the prime grazing areas of eastern Las Tunas and Camaguey to higher ground.

"We are at a disadvantage because there are no hills and mountains to break the wind," farm worker Artemio Madonadoemos said from the flatlands of Las Tunas. "If the storm comes through here the damage will be enormous."

Ike was set to come ashore in Holguin, home of the nickel industry, Cuba's most important export, then move westward over the heart of the sugar industry. Holguin's mines and three processing plants in the mountains were shut down.

The hurricane rained new misery on Haiti, where flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Hanna was believed to have killed at least 500 people around the port city of Gonaives.

"I believe the death toll is much higher," Gonaives chief Mayor Stephen Moise said, adding it had started raining again, floodwaters were rising and bridges linking the city to the rest of the country had collapsed.

"Gonaives is really a devastated and isolated city," he said. "We cannot bear another hurricane."

By 2 p.m. EDT, the center of Ike was just west of Great Inagua Island, where a satellite dish on the roof of a phone company building collapsed and high winds blew the shutters off the police station.

[Bianca]

                        Hurricane Ike rages over Bahamas, clips Haiti, Cuba and US next






Sun Sep 7,
12:16 PM ET
Sept. 7, 2008
 
HAVANA (AFP) - The latest hurricane to tear through the Atlantic and Caribbean battered Turks and Caicos and the southern Bahamas Sunday and was hampering relief efforts in flood-devastated Haiti, as Cuba and the United States gird for the storm's wrath.

 
Hurricane Ike, an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm, plowed overnight across the low-lying Turks and Caicos islands, causing some injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven, Bahamas radio reported.

At 1400 GMT Sunday the storm was raking over the southeastern Bahamian island of Great Inagua, toppling trees, blowing off roofs, causing an island-wide power failure and forcing many of its 1,000 residents to seek refuge in shelters, a resident told AFP by telephone.

Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham warned residents that Ike "must be taken very seriously" and dispatched Defense Force personnel to Great Inagua to cope with the disaster.

Ike was expected to eventually careen past Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep toward Louisiana and the storm-battered city of New Orleans as early as Tuesday.

A more immediate concern was its effect on Haiti, where a humanitarian crisis was unfolding after flooding from previous Hurricane Hanna left more than 500 people dead and thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.

With winds near 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour, Ike was to churn just north of Haiti on its way to Cuba, but further flooding in Haiti is expected as the storm's outer rain bands were to unleash downpours on the country's vulnerable northwest coast.

"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over mountainous terrain," the center warned, predicting "some strengthening" of the storm.

It was an ominous forecast for the poorest country in the Americas, already reeling from the destruction inflicted by three storms in as many weeks, and where the United Nations has warned the death toll from Hanna's floods was "increasing hourly."

The disaster prompted prayers from Pope Benedict XVI.

"I want to remember the dear population of Haiti, greatly distressed in recent days by passing hurricanes," Benedict told pilgrims on the Italian island of Sardinia.

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Some 650,000 Haitians have been affected by the flooding, including 300,000 children, and the task of delivering crucial aid has been complicated by dismal transport conditions, according to UNICEF.

A chilling scene has emerged in the northwestern Haitian town of Gonaives, a flood-prone coast city of some 350,000 where hundreds of bodies were found after a five-meter (16-foot) wall of water and mud engulfed much of the town, the United Nations has said.

Senator Yuri Latortue, who represents Gonaives, said 200,000 people have been without food and clean water, many for four days.

Rivers were muddy brown as they spilled over into entire villages, many of which remained Sunday under half a meter of water.

Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers on Saturday evacuated several thousand residents from Gonaives, a civil protection official there said, but thousands more awaited relief.

"The water has only started to recede. We've finally managed to reach the people of Gonaives," said Jean-Pierre Taschereau, a Haitian Red Cross coordinator.

"This new hurricane alert is a very bad one. Rain risks complicating the situation even more," he said, warning there could be food shortages.

After clipping Haiti, Ike was on course late Sunday to plow westward into northeastern Cuba.

Cuba -- where Hurricane Gustav damaged or destroyed 140,000 homes a week ago -- was on high alert. "Almost our entire country is in the danger zone," Jose Rubiera, the head of Cuba's Insmet weather agency, told Cuban television.

Some 250,000 Cubans began evacuations Sunday ahead of Ike's impending landfall, local officials said.

Meanwhile in the southern US state of Florida, officials and residents also got ready for Ike's arrival.

Densely populated south Florida, including the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, has not been hit by a major hurricane since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The center of Ike was forecast to rake over the Florida Keys, where a phased evacuation has begun for the string of islands.

"We've learned from the past. They're so fickle," Rob Mitchell, owner of Keys Divers snorkeling outfit in Key Largo, said of the hurricanes that lash Florida.

"It can be aiming right away from you, and all of a sudden turn."

[Bianca]

                                      Deadly Ike rakes Cuba, could hit Havana head-on







By WILL WEISSERT,
Associated Press Writer

28 minutes ago

Sept. 8, 2008

CAMAGUEY, Cuba - Hurricane Ike roared across Cuba on Monday, tearing off roofs and sending waves crashing into buildings, as 900,000 Cubans fled to shelters or higher ground and Havana residents in decaying historic buildings prepared for a direct hit.
 
Ike made landfall as a fearsome Category-3 hurricane late Sunday night after raking the Bahamas and worsening floods in Haiti that have already killed 319 people. It has since been downgraded to a category 2 storm with 105 mile-per-hour winds.

It is expected to tear across almost the entire length of Cuba, then enter the Gulf of Mexico with Texas and Louisiana among the likely targets.

"We are preparing for a strong hit," Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage told state television.

Cuba's National Meteorological Institute said heavy rains were soaking the entire eastern half of the island of 11 million, and dangerous storm surges were threatening communities along most of the northeastern coast.

Ike's powerful winds sent huge chunks of debris flying over the streets of the central-eastern city of Camaguey, which was just 20 miles (35 kilometers) north of the eye at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT).

Diagonal sheets of stinging rain flooded the narrow colonial streets, which were further clogged with tree branches, metal grates and plastic sheeting.

A huge sheet of plastic roofing spun like a top in the wind above a traffic intersection. Streets were deserted, save for a lone, miserable-looking security guard taking shelter at a bus station.

State television earlier broadcast images of the storm surge washing over coastal homes in the easternmost city of Baracoa. It said huge waves surged over buildings as tall as five stories and dozens of dwellings were damaged beyond repair.

A tally of sporadic reports from six of the eight eastern provinces affected indicated at least 900,000 people had evacuated, and former President Fidel Castro released a statement calling on Cubans to heed security measures to ensure no one dies. Cuba historically has successfully carried off massive evacuations before hurricanes, sparing countless lives.

Ike had weakened to a Category 2 storm with top sustained winds near 100 mph (155 kph) and forecasters expected further weakening as it moved over central Cuba on Monday. It was moving west near 14 mph (22 kph).

Winds reaching as high as 160 mph (260 kph) damaged an undetermined number of homes in Holguin province. Roofs were ripped away and trees toppled across the region.

Foreign tourists were pulled out from vulnerable beach communities, including more than 9,000 from the resort of Varadero, east of Havana. Workers rushed to protect coffee plants and other crops, and plans were under way to distribute food and cooking oil to disaster areas.

Forecasters said Ike would likely hit Havana, the capital of 2 million people, early Tuesday. Morning skies were only cloudy, but schools were closed and domestic flights were suspended Monday.

On Florida's Key West, tourists and residents alike were ordered to evacuate and a steady stream of traffic filled the highway from the island. Ike was forecast to make landfall later in the week between the Florida Panhandle and the Texas coast — with New Orleans once again in the cross hairs.

The hurricane also slowed efforts to bring oil and gas production back online in the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Gustav.

In Camaguey, 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.

"There's no fear here, but one has to be prepared. It could hit us pretty hard," said Ramon Olivera, gassing up his motorcycle.

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.

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.

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.

In flooded Haiti, Ike made an already grim situation abysmal.

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

Haiti's 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.

Off Mexico, Tropical Storm Lowell was moving northwest parallel to the coast with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (96 kph). 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.

[Bianca]

                                     Powerful Hurricane Ike may swipe Florida Keys






By BRIAN SKOLOFF,
Associated Press Writer

24 minutes ago

Sept. 28, 2008
 
KEY WEST, Fla. - Most storm-hardened residents of the Florida Keys stayed put Monday despite day-old instructions to evacuate as a ferocious Hurricane Ike ripped across Cuba and stayed on track to swipe the low-lying island chain.
 
 
 
Gulf Coast residents from Florida to Texas watched Ike's unpredictable path, worrying it could hit anywhere in the U.S. after a projected track into the central Gulf later this week. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Keys.

Still, many in the Keys hoped the storm would turn west and spare this low-lying island chain a devastating blow.

Barbara Kellner, 80, walked her dog in Key West early Monday, defying an evacuation order that had 15,000 tourists flee the Keys over the weekend. Authorities also have told residents to leave and said anyone who stays will be on their own.

"Us folks have lived here for years. We worry but we always think it will be OK," said Kellner, 80. "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 said most of the roughly 25,000 residents of the Lower Keys were expected to stay put Monday.

"I never leave," said Bruce Hagemann, 47. "I think they called this evacuation too early, though."

Many business owners along the evacuation route in the Upper Keys 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

Ike tore through Cuba after roaring across the Caribbean, killing at least 58 people in Haiti. Forecasters had the storm track continuing west and into the Gulf by Wednesday.

Its 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.

Meteorologist Todd Kimberlain said Ike is expected to pass sometime Tuesday over Cuba's western coast before taking aim next at the Gulf of Mexico and possibly the Lower Keys in Florida.

And once again, New Orleans — still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav — 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.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida because of Ike on Sunday and ordered federal money to supplement state and local response efforts.

"Every day the president is receiving multiple updates from the Department of Homeland Security, and he has spoken to several governors as they prepare for these storms," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Sunday. "The president urges all citizens to listen to their local officials and heed the warnings."

___



Associated Press writer Kelli Kennedy in Islamorada, Fla., contributed to this report.



(This version CORRECTS location in graf 13 to Upper Keys; Next advisory expected at 11 a.m. AP Video.)

[Bianca]

 Hurricane Ike slams Cuba, Haiti death toll passes 600






by Isabel Sanchez
 AFP

10 minutes ago

Sept. 10, 2008
 
HAVANA (AFP) - Hurricane Ike raged across Cuba on Monday with torrential rain and winds as Haiti struggled with a growing humanitarian crisis after four hurricanes in four weeks.
 
Cuba carried out mass evacuations of residents and tourists before Ike -- the second hurricane in less than a week after Gustav -- made landfall at Punta Lucrecia on the eastern coast and then weakened slightly.

More than 800,000 people were moved away from coastal areas eastern Cuba and more than 9,000 foreign tourists were moved out of the resort of Varadero.

"In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," lamented the head of Cuba's meteorological service, Jose Rubiera, on state television.

At 0900 GMT, the eye of storm was 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Camaguey and moving west, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Still packing winds of near 105 miles (165 kilometers) an hour with higher gusts, the US National Hurrican Center said Ike was a category two storm, down from a three on the five level Saffir-Simpson scale.

The center said a further weakening was possible while it was over land.

"It's raining heavily here and power has been cut since early at night," Alvaro Cruz, a resident of the city of Holguin, told AFP in a telephone interview.

Ike plowed across the Turks and Caicos as a powerful Category Four storm late Saturday, causing injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven, before weakening.

The hurricane raked the Bahamas island of Great Inagua, toppling trees, blowing off roofs, causing an island-wide power failure and forcing many of its 1,000 people to seek emergency refuge.

The main concern is now in Haiti , where four storms in three weeks have killed at least 600 people and left hundreds of thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.

Officials continued aid operations in the flood-stricken town of Gonaives, devastated by flooding from Tropical Storm Hanna. Another 47 people perished in the village of Cabaret, near Port-au-Prince, in flooding caused by Ike, officials said.

"Many homes were destroyed in Cabaret, and we have seen some bodies of children in the water," a journalist for UN radio who spent the night on the roof of his house told AFP.

Hundreds of bodies were found in Gonaives, a town of 350,000 in northwestern Haiti, after a five-meter (16-foot) wall of water and mud engulfed much of the town.

UN peacekeepers on Saturday evacuated several thousand residents from Gonaives, a local official said, but thousands more are still awaiting relief.

Some 650,000 Haitians have been affected by the flooding, including 300,000 children, and the task of delivering crucial aid has been complicated by dismal transport conditions, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Officials said 200,000 people were without food and clean water, many for four days.

"What has happened here is unimaginable," member of parliament Pierre-Gerome Valcine told AFP from Cabaret, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital.

Massive flooding over the past week in the poorest country in the Americas has triggered a humanitarian crisis that was worsening by the day.

Pope Benedict XVI said special prayers for the stricken country.

"I want to remember the dear population of Haiti, greatly distressed in recent days by passing hurricanes," Benedict told pilgrims on the Italian island of Sardinia.

More stormy weather hampered relief efforts Sunday. Heavy rains brought down a key bridge which severed the only viable land route to Gonaives.

The bridge gave way at the town of Mirebalais in central Haiti, forcing three trucks loaded with emergency supplies and bound for Saint-Marc, where thousands of desperate refugees from Gonaives were crowding into shelters, to turn back, according to a World Food Programme official.

Many bridges in other areas of Haiti have also collapsed, homes have been washed away and crops ravaged.

Ike was expected to eventually careen past Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep toward Louisiana and the storm-battered city of New Orleans as early as Tuesday.