HURRICANE SEASON 2008

[Bianca]

                                            Deadly Ike smashes Cuba; Is US Gulf Coast next?






By WILL WEISSERT,
Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago

Sept. 8, 2008
 


CAMAGUEY, Cuba - Deadly Hurricane Ike roared across Cuba on Monday, blowing homes to rubble and sending waves crashing over apartment buildings. Some 900,000 Cubans evacuated, and forecasters said it could hit Louisiana or Texas later this week.
 
Ike, which raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti that have killed 321 people, made landfall on Cuba as a fearsome Category-3 hurricane, then weakened to a still-potent Category-2 on Monday as it ran along the length of the island.

There were no immediate reports of deaths in Cuba, despite storm-whipped waves that crashed into five-story apartment buildings, hurling heavy spray over their rooftops, and winds that uprooted trees and toppled utility poles.

"I have never seen anything like it in my life. So much force is terrifying," said Olga Alvarez, 70, huddling in her living room in Camaguey with her husband and teenage grandson. "We barely slept last night. It was just `boom, boom, boom.'"

Forecasters said Ike could make a direct hit on Havana, where decaying, historic buildings are especially vulnerable, before regaining force in the Gulf of Mexico and slamming into the United States somewhere along the Gulf coast.

As the hurricane's eye passed just south of Camaguey, falling utility poles crushed cars parked along narrow streets and the roaring wind blew apart some older buildings of stone and brick, leaving behind only piles of rubble.

A tree smashed the box office of an old-fashioned movie theater downtown and toppled street signs shattered the picture windows of department stores.

Families huddled inside their homes, watching from behind the iron gates of doorways as diagonal sheets of stinging rain fed rising flood waters. A huge piece of plastic roofing spun like a top in the wind above a traffic intersection.

Sporadic reports from six of the eight eastern provinces affected indicated that 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.

"It's a huge evacuation," said Mirtha Perez, a 65-year-old retiree taking refuge with about 1,000 others in a Camaguey art school built on stilts. "We are waiting and asking God to protect us and that nothing happens to us."

State television said officials had taken measures to protect thousands of European and Canadian tourists at vulnerable seaside resort hotels. More than 9,000 foreigners were pulled from the Varadero resort, east of Havana.

A few street signs were topped at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southeast Cuba and power went out temporarily in some residential areas, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Lamb said. But the military said cells containing the detainees — about 255 men suspected of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida — are hurricane-proof, and no injuries were reported.

By late morning, Ike still had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph) about 45 miles (75 kilometers) west-southwest of Camaguey. Forecasters said it would likely move out slightly into the Caribbean, picking up strength over warm water, before making Cuban landfall again.

Ike was expected to hit Havana, 290 miles (465 kilometers) away, early Tuesday. Morning skies were only cloudy in the capital of 2 million people, but officials closed schools and seaside avenues and prepared for evacuations.

"My home is strong and it won't fall, and I'm not afraid of the wind," said Yusenia Aguilar, who lives with her two young children on Havana's western outskirts. "But the water rises a lot in this area."

Florida canceled an evacuation order from its Keys on Monday as Ike moved further south, but urged tourists to stay away until Wednesday. After passing into the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said Ike could hit land over the weekend near the Texas-Louisiana border, possibly not far from Houston.

Ike first slammed into the Turks and Caicos and the southernmost Bahamas islands as a mighty Category 4 hurricane that peeled off roofs and knocked down buildings. Officials began to assess the damage on Monday.

"It looks like Beirut," said Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick as his small plane landed at a Grand Turk airport where a collapsed hangar had crushed the aircraft inside.

Some people cried and hugged Misick. At one home, women called out: "No food! No food!"

Mary James, a longtime resident of Grand Turk, said up to 90 percent of the island "is just a disaster."

"I slept in the toilet, me and my family. That's how we survived," James told The Associated Press.

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

At least 61 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 321. 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. Mayor Thomas Joseph Will said two more victims were found Monday.

Off Mexico, Tropical Storm Lowell was moving northwest parallel to the Pacific coast with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph). It was 280 miles (455 kilometers) south-southwest of the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, which could be threatened 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 and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana, Cuba; and David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

[Bianca]

                                     Hurricane Ike on track to veer away from Keys






By BRIAN SKOLOFF,
Associated Press Writer
12 minutes ago

Sept. 8, 2008
 
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.




___

Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky in Key West and Kelli Kennedy in Islamorada, Fla., contributed to this report.

[cleasterwood]

I'm so relieved we here in Florida have been spared Ike's ferocity.  My thoughts & prayers are with those who have had to weather the storm.
Lynn

[Azrael]

Looks like it is headed towards Texas now, at least Louisiaina will probably be spared.

[Bianca]

                                       Ike kills 4 in Cuba, takes aim at Mexico, US Gulf






By ANITA SNOW,
Associated Press Writer

19 minutes ago

Sept. 9, 2008
 
HAVANA - Hurricane Ike roared south of Cuba's densely populated capital of fragile, aging buildings Tuesday after tearing across the island nation, ravaging homes, killing at least four people and forcing 1.2 million to evacuate.

 
Residents in Texas and northern Mexico braced for a weekend hit from Ike, which has already killed at least 79 people in the Caribbean.

Winds howled and heavy rains fell across Havana, where streets were empty Tuesday morning. Towering waves broke over the graceful Malecon seaside promenade, which police barricaded off late Monday. Many of the historic apartment buildings along its length are in poor repair and vulnerable to collapse.

Police spread out across the city to halt all but emergency and official traffic. Roadways were strewn with tree branches and rocks, and the rubble from crumbling balconies littered sidewalks. Navigation was banned in Havana Bay, its usually placid surface stirred up by white-capped waves.

"The truth is, we are scared," said Nancy Nazal, who lives on the second floor of a high-rise apartment building overlooking the ocean.

Cuba, which has carried out well-executed evacuations for years, ordered hundreds of thousands of people — more than a tenth of its 11 million people — to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters, state television reported.

"I feel safe here, above all for my granddaughters who are the most important thing in my life," said Marta Molas, who evacuated to a government shelter in Havana with seven relatives. "They take good care of us, we have television and food. ... When the electricity goes out we have a radio."

State television reported that Ike killed four people in Cuba — the island's first storm deaths this year. 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.

No one was killed when Gustav tore across western Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage. That was largely because 250,000 people were evacuated.

Ike was pounding the same area hit by Gustav, and Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera urged residents to be very careful.

"We must be careful with the winds, and the rubble that can be kicked up by the gusts," he said on state television.

Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children. But in an authoritarian state, few people would think to ignore the government's advice — and state news media make an example of the few who pay the ultimate price when they fail to move out.

After raking the Bahamas and worsening floods in Haiti that have killed at least 331 people, Ike made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean's largest island.

It was a Category 1 storm on Tuesday just off Cuba's southern coast, gaining strength over warm waters on a path to cross western Cuba during the day and move out over the Gulf of Mexico in the evening. Forecasters said it would strengthen before hitting 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.

Even so, oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia on the theory that Ike might not be as disruptive to Gulf oil infrastructure as had been feared.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Ike was located 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Havana, just offshore, and was moving to the west-northwest at 13 mph (21 kph). It had maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kph).

On the narrow streets of Camaguey, falling utility poles crushed cars and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble. Colonial columns were toppled and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the central Cuban city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Delia Oliveras, 64, said it was the strongest hurricane her family has experienced. They fled to a covered patio as winds tore the roof from the living room.

"This critter was angry, really angry," she said.

Ike destroyed 300 homes and damaged hundreds more in the eastern city of Baracoa, said Luis Torres, president of the Civil Defense Council in Guantanamo province.

Much of eastern Cuba was without electricity and phone service was spotty. The road between Santiago and Guantanamo was cut when a reservoir overflowed.

State television said officials had taken measures to protect tourists at vulnerable seaside hotels, including about 10,000 foreigners at the Varadero resort, east of Havana.

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lowell was 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 50 mph (85 kph) early Tuesday, but was expected to weaken before hitting land.

___

Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Camaguey, Cuba, Jennifer Kay in Miami and Andrea Rodriguez and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

[Bianca]

                                        Forecasters: Ike crashes into western Cuba






2 minutes ago
 
Sept 9, 2008

MIAMI - Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say the eye of Hurricane Ike has powered ashore in western Cuba's province of Pinal del Rio.
 
The center of the Category 1 storm hit land in the extreme southeastern part of the Cuban province around 10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday. At least 1.2 million people have evacuated the island nation, and the storm is ravaging homes and fragile buildings.

Residents in Texas and northern Mexico are bracing for a possible weekend hit from Ike. The storm is being blamed for at least 79 deaths in the Caribbean and four in Cuba.

Cuba is getting pounded by Ike on the heels of Hurricane Gustav. Gustav tore across western Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30 and caused billions of dollars in damage.








THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

HAVANA (AP) — Hurricane Ike roared south of Cuba's densely populated capital of fragile, aging buildings Tuesday after tearing across the island nation, ravaging homes, killing at least four people and forcing 1.2 million to evacuate.

Residents in Texas and northern Mexico braced for a weekend hit from Ike, which has already killed at least 79 people in the Caribbean.

Winds howled and heavy rains fell across Havana, where streets were empty Tuesday morning. Towering waves broke over the graceful Malecon seaside promenade, which police barricaded off late Monday. Many of the historic apartment buildings along its length are in poor repair and vulnerable to collapse.

Police spread out across the city to halt all but emergency and official traffic. Roadways were strewn with tree branches and rocks, and the rubble from crumbling balconies littered sidewalks. Navigation was banned in Havana Bay, its usually placid surface stirred up by white-capped waves.

"The truth is, we are scared," said Nancy Nazal, who lives on the second floor of a high-rise apartment building overlooking the ocean.

Cuba, which has carried out well-executed evacuations for years, ordered hundreds of thousands of people — more than a tenth of its 11 million people — to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters, state television reported.

"I feel safe here, above all for my granddaughters who are the most important thing in my life," said Marta Molas, who evacuated to a government shelter in Havana with seven relatives. "They take good care of us, we have television and food. ... When the electricity goes out we have a radio."

State television reported that Ike killed four people in Cuba — the island's first storm deaths this year. 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.

No one was killed when Gustav tore across western Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage. That was largely because 250,000 people were evacuated.

Ike was pounding the same area hit by Gustav, and Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera urged residents to be very careful.

"We must be careful with the winds, and the rubble that can be kicked up by the gusts," he said on state television.

Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children. But in an authoritarian state, few people would think to ignore the government's advice — and state news media make an example of the few who pay the ultimate price when they fail to move out.

After raking the Bahamas and worsening floods in Haiti that have killed at least 331 people, Ike made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean's largest island.

It was a Category 1 storm on Tuesday just off Cuba's southern coast, gaining strength over warm waters on a path to cross western Cuba during the day and move out over the Gulf of Mexico in the evening. Forecasters said it would strengthen before hitting 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.

Even so, oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia on the theory that Ike might not be as disruptive to Gulf oil infrastructure as had been feared.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Ike was located 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Havana, just offshore, and was moving to the west-northwest at 13 mph (21 kph). It had maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kph).

On the narrow streets of Camaguey, falling utility poles crushed cars and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble. Colonial columns were toppled and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the central Cuban city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Delia Oliveras, 64, said it was the strongest hurricane her family has experienced. They fled to a covered patio as winds tore the roof from the living room.

"This critter was angry, really angry," she said.

Ike destroyed 300 homes and damaged hundreds more in the eastern city of Baracoa, said Luis Torres, president of the Civil Defense Council in Guantanamo province.

Much of eastern Cuba was without electricity and phone service was spotty. The road between Santiago and Guantanamo was cut when a reservoir overflowed.

State television said officials had taken measures to protect tourists at vulnerable seaside hotels, including about 10,000 foreigners at the Varadero resort, east of Havana.

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lowell was 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 50 mph (85 kph) early Tuesday, but was expected to weaken before hitting land.

___

Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Camaguey, Cuba, Jennifer Kay in Miami and Andrea Rodriguez and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

[Bianca]

                                 Storm-fatigued Gulf Coast in crosshairs again






By MELINDA DESLATTE,
Associated Press Writer
Sept. 9, 2008
 
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Gulf Coast watched anxiously as Hurricane Ike trudged toward areas still cleaning up after Gustav, with disasters pre-declared in much of eastern Texas and Louisianans urged to stock up — again — on supplies.
 
Texas Gov. Rick Perry spurred storm preparations with the declarations in 88 counties, and the National Hurricane Center warned the storm could make landfall this weekend in Texas — possibly not far from Corpus Christi. Perry also put 7,500 National Guard members on standby.

However, storm paths are hard to predict several days in advance, and forecasters said the storm could come ashore anywhere from Louisiana to Mexico.

"While Hurricane Gustav is still fresh on the minds of coastal residents, we must now turn our attention to Hurricane Ike as it poses a potential threat to the Texas coast," said Perry, who also requested a presidential disaster declaration for the counties.

In Louisiana, where thousands remain without power after Hurricane Gustav hit last week, Gov. Bobby Jindal urged residents to start stockpiling food, water, batteries and other supplies. The state also was readying shelters and making plans for trains, buses and planes in case a coastal evacuation is called later in the week.

"It is still too early to be evacuating certainly, but it is not too early to be making sure you've got food and water and batteries. It's not too early to be checking your car," Jindal said.

The Federal Emergency Management agency was uncertain about the timing of evacuations along the coast. It would be at least 24 to 48 hours until officials have a clearer picture of Ike's intended path — and officials need to evacuate communities 48 hours before a storm's winds kick up.

"That puts us right in middle of when we should be moving people," Glenn Cannon, FEMA's head of disaster operations, said Monday.

Jindal said he doesn't anticipate the sort of mass evacuations forced by Gustav, which emptied out most of south Louisiana, including the New Orleans area. But even without a direct strike, the state's low-lying parishes could face strong tidal surges, tropical storm winds and heavy rains from the storm.

In southwestern Louisiana, Dick Gremillion of the Office of Emergency Preparedness for Calcasieu Parish, estimated that 80 percent of the parish's 185,000 residents left for Hurricane Gustav and officials were preparing in case evacuations are needed for Ike.

"We're hearing a lot about the public having evacuation fatigue. The main problem is financial. A lot of people just don't have to money to do it two weeks in a row," Gremillion said.

Florida Keys residents, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief that Ike had turned West. A hurricane watch for the island chain was discontinued Monday. But Ike still delivered turbulent weather to the islands and authorities said people should stay indoors for now or stay away until Wednesday if they had already left.

Key West was battered by gusty winds and sporadic, sideways downpours Tuesday morning. High surf washed over several beaches, leaving several feet of water on some roads, but flooding was light and spotty. Residents walked the streets along the coast, getting splashed with waves and enjoying the cool breezes that were a break from typical hot and humid weather.

"Cuba took one for us again," said Jon Harper, 49, who owns a day spa in Old Town on the western tip of Key West. "This is nothing... It's a nonevent. It's a drill. You go through it with all the angst and then you relax and have a beer."

Power outages were reported in Marathon and Islamorada, where pounding rain persisted through the night, but it wasn't immediately clear how many people were affected.

Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba Sunday night as a Category 3 hurricane, blowing homes to rubble and sending waves crashing over apartment buildings. By Monday afternoon when the storm weakened along the country's southern coast, 1.2 million Cubans had evacuated and at least four were dead.

At 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Ike was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. It was centered about 40 miles south of Cuba's capital, Havana, and moving west-northwest near 13 mph. Forecasters said the hurricane was likely to strengthen when it moved into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.

The storm first slammed into the Turks and Caicos and the southernmost Bahamas islands as a Category 4 hurricane that peeled off roofs and knocked down buildings. It also pelted Haiti, killing at least 61.

___

Associated Press Writers Eileen Sullivan in Washington, Deborah Hastings and Brian Skoloff in Key West, Kevin McGill and Mary Foster in New Orleans, and Kelli Kennedy in Islamorada contributed to this report.

[Bianca]

                                     Ike kills 4 in Cuba, takes aim at Mexico, US Gulf







By ANITA SNOW,
Associated Press Writer

14 minutes ago
 
Sept. 9, 2008

HAVANA - Hurricane Ike roared across Cuba west of the densely populated capital's aging buildings Tuesday after tearing down the length of the island nation, ravaging homes, killing at least four people and forcing 1.2 million to evacuate.
 
Residents in Texas and northern Mexico braced for a weekend hit from Ike, which has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean.

Winds howled and heavy rains fell across Havana, where streets were empty. Towering waves broke over the graceful Malecon seaside promenade, which police had barricaded off the previous evening. Many of the historic apartment buildings along its length are in poor repair and vulnerable to collapse.

Police spread out across the city to halt all but emergency and official traffic. Roadways were strewn with tree branches and rocks, and the rubble from crumbling balconies littered sidewalks. Navigation was banned in Havana Bay, its usually placid surface stirred up by white-capped waves.

Teresa Tejeda, scared to stay in her dilapidated Old Havana home, evacuated with several hundred other elderly people to a government shelter.

"My house has really bad walls and I feel much more secure here," said Tejeda, who is in her 70s.

Cuba, which has carried out well-executed evacuations for years, ordered hundreds of thousands of people — more than a tenth of its 11 million people — to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters.

State television reported that Ike killed four people in Cuba — the island's first storm deaths this year. 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.

No one was killed when Gustav tore across western Cuba — the same area Ike was pounding Tuesday — as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage. That was largely because 250,000 people were evacuated.

Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children. But in an authoritarian state, few people would think to ignore the government's advice — and state news media make an example of the few who pay the ultimate price when they fail to move out.

Police told Niyel Rodriguez, 21, that she had to move to a shelter with her 19-day-old daughter Chanel. She huddled Tuesday with 109 expectant and new mothers and their children in a wing of an Old Havana maternity hospital converted into a shelter. Obstetricians and nurses were on hand in case anyone needed help.

"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."

State television said officials had taken measures to protect tourists at vulnerable seaside hotels, including about 10,000 foreigners at the Varadero resort, east of Havana.

Spanish tourists Jose Luis and Avelina Alonso were spending the last day of their Cuban vacation holed up in the lobby of an Old Havana hotel.

"We arrived with Gustav and we are leaving with Ike," said Alonso, 42, who works at Spain's National Library in Madrid.

He said hotel management had been gracious, picking up the cost of their meals on Tuesday and asking them not to venture outside for their own safety.

"They'll let us leave of course, but there really isn't much to see right now," he said.

After raking the Bahamas and worsening floods in Haiti that have killed at least 331 people, Ike made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean's largest island.

Ike moved just to the south of Cuba Monday, then came back ashore Tuesday morning as a Category 1 storm southwest of Havana. It was expected to cross the island again and move out over the Gulf of Mexico in the afternoon. Forecasters said it would strengthen before hitting 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.

Officials warned that unrelated heavy rains in northern Mexico had caused more than a dozen dams to reach capacity or spill over. If Ike hits the area as expected, evacuations might be necessary.

At least 80 people were reported dead from Ike's fury. In addition to the four deaths in Cuba, 74 people were killed in flooding in Haiti and two people died in the Dominican Republic, including an unidentified man whose body was discovered Tuesday.

Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia on the theory that Ike might not be as disruptive to Gulf oil infrastructure as had been feared.

At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), Ike was centered 65 miles (105 kilometers) west-southwest of Havana, and was moving to the west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). It had maximum sustained winds near 75 mph (120 kph).

On the narrow streets of Camaguey, falling utility poles crushed cars and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble. Colonial columns were toppled and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the central Cuban city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Delia Oliveras, 64, said it was the strongest hurricane her family has experienced. They fled to a covered patio as winds tore the roof from the living room.

"This critter was angry, really angry," she said.

Ike destroyed 300 homes and damaged hundreds more in the eastern city of Baracoa, said Luis Torres, president of the Civil Defense Council in Guantanamo province.

Much of eastern Cuba was without electricity and phone service was spotty. The road between Santiago and Guantanamo was cut when a reservoir overflowed.

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Lowell was 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 (75 kph) Tuesday morning, but was expected to weaken before hitting land.

___

Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Camaguey, Cuba, Jennifer Kay in Miami and Andrea Rodriguez and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

[Bianca]

                                        Ike gains strength over Gulf, aims for Texas






By WILL WEISSERT,
Associated Press Writer

59 minutes ago

Sept. 10, 2008
 


HAVANA - 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. They said it could hit Saturday morning just about anywhere along the Texas coast, with the most likely spot close to the Corpus Christi area.

Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, and Texas put 7,500 National Guard members on standby and urged coastal residents to stock up on supplies.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management agency still was uncertain about the timing of evacuations along the coast.

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.

Teresa Tejeda said she was too scared to stay in her shaky, old Havana apartment building, and 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 21-year-old Niyel Rodriguez she had to move to a shelter with her 19-day-old daughter Chanel. She huddled Tuesday 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."

Elsewhere in Cuba, officials evacuated about 10,000 tourists from vulnerable seaside hotels, mostly from Varadero beach, east of Havana.

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.

At 5 a.m., Ike was located 125 miles north of the western tip of Cuba and 465 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving west-northwest at 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds remained near 85 mph, still at Category 1 storm.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lowell has weakened to a tropical depression off Mexico's Pacific coast.

Lowell is expected to move across Mexico's Baja California peninsula Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Little change in strength is expected before reaching Baja California.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Lowell's maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 35 mph.

___

Associated Press writers Andrea Rodriguez and Anita Snow in Havana, and Kathy Corcoran in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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                                       Ike gains strength over Gulf, aims for Texas






By WILL WEISSERT,
Associated Press Writer
57 minutes ago
Sept. 10, 2008
 
HAVANA - Hurricane Ike grew stronger as it barreled across the warm, energizing waters of the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday toward the Texas coast after crashing through Cuba's tobacco country and toppling aging Havana buildings.
 
Forecasters said the Category 1 storm could become a major Category 3 hurricane before slamming into Texas or northern Mexico on Saturday.

Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, and Texas put 7,500 National Guard members on standby and urged coastal residents to stock up on supplies. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency was uncertain when it could begin evacuations along the coast.

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 as it swept across the length of the country. Power was still mostly out in Havana on Wednesday.

Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said the storm damaged at least 27,000 homes in eastern Cuba, but that tally will rise sharply because it does not include Havana or many other regions where officials are still battling flood waters as they struggle to catalog losses.

Cuba also announced that the hurricane "obligated a gradual decrease in nickel production," which replaced tourism last year as the island's top foreign exchange earner.

On the capital's Malecon coastal highway, crews tried to rescue an elderly man from beneath a pile of rubble outside his apartment building.

Firefighter Lt. Col. Rolando Menendez said the man, still believed to be alive, returned to his seaside home without official approval and a concrete piece of the building's fourth floor slipped loose and fell on him.

As it left Cuba, Ike delivered a punishing blow to western 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 leveled or without roofs.

"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 Ike killed at least four people in eastern Cuba. Two men died while removing an antenna from a roof, a woman was killed when her home collapsed and another 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 Malecon 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.

Police told 21-year-old Niyel Rodriguez she had to move to a shelter with her 19-day-old daughter Chanel. She huddled Tuesday 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."

Elsewhere, officials evacuated about 10,000 tourists from vulnerable seaside hotels, mostly from Varadero beach, east of Havana.

Ike's possible threat to Gulf oil installations didn't keep crude oil prices from dipping more than US$1, to US$102.15 a barrel, in late-morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Both Ike and Gustav damaged buildings in Pinar del Rio associated with tobacco production, but the tobacco crop was spared because it is not in season.

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.

Ike was centered about 225 miles (365 kilometers) west-southwest of Key West, Florida, and about 430 miles (695 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River late Wednesday morning. It was generally moving northwest at 8 mph (13 kph) and its maximum sustained winds remained near 90 mph (150 kph), still a little short of Category 2 strength.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lowell weakened to a tropical depression off Mexico's Pacific coast and it was expected to move across the Baja California Peninsula Wednesday night or Thursday morning. It had maximum sustained of near 35 mph (55 kph).

___

Associated Press writers Andrea Rodriguez and Anita Snow in Havana, and Kathy Corcoran in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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                                        Texas coast girds for strike by deadly Ike






Wed Sep 10, 2008
 
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush declared an emergency in Texas Wednesday and state authorities began ordering evacuations as deadly Hurricane Ike churned in the Gulf of Mexico toward the US state.
 
The presidential declaration frees up federal aid to boost local efforts, as the state girds for expected landfall later this week by Ike, which is forecast to pick up speed and become a major hurricane before slamming the Texas coast.

"The president today declared an emergency exists in the State of Texas and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Ike beginning on September 7, 2008, and continuing," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.

A mandatory evacuation order went into effect in the coastal area immediately south of Galveston, Texas, early Wednesday, Brazoria County officials said.

Ike has now moved into the Gulf of Mexico, home to the bulk of US oil refineries, and is headed toward the southern Texas coastline where it could strike land early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it would complete evacuation of personnel from its offshore installations by Wednesday.

At 1500 GMT Wednesday, Ike was about 225 miles (365 kilometers) west-southwest of Key West, Florida, moving west-northwest eight miles per hour (13 kilometers), the US National Hurricane Center said.

Already packing sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (150 kilometers), with higher gusts, Ike, a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was likely to strengthen into a "major storm" after passing over the warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico, the NHC said.

It was on a track to swell further to a major Category Three hurricane before slamming into Texas' coast, the NHC forecast.

Texas Governor Rick Perry on Monday declared a disaster threat in 88 counties on and near Texas' Gulf coast, which helps free up resources and ease the way for federal government assistance.

Evacuations were starting to lurch into gear Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement. "Federal assets will support these evacuations to ensure that everyone can get to safety," the statement stressed.

In Texas' Brazoria County, authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for the 77541 postal code early Wednesday. The rest of the county was for the moment under voluntary evacuation instructions, they said.

Texas National Guard troops and Air Force personnel from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida have been staging equipment and unloading troops for medical triage in the HALO-Flight hangar at Corpus Christi International Airport since early Tuesday, the Caller-Times newspaper reported.

"C-130 cargo planes have come and gone through the night bringing troops and dropping off equipment, which includes portable air-conditioning systems for patient comfort. The evacuation assistance group will work in tandem with city and county officials to assist the primary evacuation of people with medical needs and disabilities," the daily added.

Ike was grinding toward Texas Wednesday after killing more than 100 people across the Caribbean.

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                                      Ike gets stronger as Texas begins evacuations






By MONICA RHOR,
Associated Press Writer
Sept. 10, 2008
 
HOUSTON - Hurricane Ike strengthened in the Gulf's warm waters Wednesday and churned toward the Texas coast, and officials started to evacuate the first of millions of residents who could be in the storm's path. Ike bloomed to a Category 2 storm and was likely to grow even stronger before its predicted strike on the Texas coast early Saturday.
 
Officials in Matagorda County, about halfway between Houston and Corpus Christi, began a mandatory evacuation for residents in its coastal portions. County Judge Nate McDonald said his region expected to be the epicenter of the storm.

If more Texas officials order a mandatory exodus, it would be the first large-scale evacuation in South Texas history. State and county officials let people decide for themselves whether to leave a hurricane area until just before Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Now county officials can order people out of harm's way.

Texas emergency officials were taking no chances with the lives of its medically fragile citizens. Residents with special needs in the Corpus Christi area were set to start leaving by bus for San Antonio, and the state opened a northbound shoulder lane on Interstate 37 to accommodate the heavier traffic created by people who wished to leave.

"For people designated as special medical needs who have a health condition that will require them to be out of harm's way ... we will assist them in boarding state-furnished transportation and we'll assist them in getting to San Antonio," said Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal.

The evacuation would affect the impoverished Rio Grande Valley, home to many immigrants who have traditionally been fearful of evacuating out of concern they could be deported if stopped by authorities. Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said if an evacuation is ordered, county officials will visit immigrant neighborhoods and forcefully urge people to clear out.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, "there were a lot of immigrants who said, `I'm not going to go,'" said Salinas, the county's top elected official. "It's going to be hard."

Gov. Rick Perry has already declared 88 coastal counties disaster areas to start the flow of state aid, activated 7,500 National Guard troops and began preparing for an evacuation, lining up "buses rather than body bags." Schools in the Corpus Christi area called off classes for Thursday and Friday, as well as weekend sports events.

Texas officials were encouraging residents in the path of Hurricane Ike to do three things — listen to what local officials say, monitor weather reports and gas up, now.

"We have a fuel team that is part of the state operation system in Austin," said Allison Castle, spokeswoman for Perry. "They are helping to push fuel to hurricane areas. One of the lessons we learned from past hurricanes is we need to have fuel ready."

Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean and ravaged homes in Cuba. As it left Cuba Tuesday, the storm delivered a punishing blow to towns such as Los Palacios, which already suffered a direct hit from Category 4 Hurricane Gustav on Aug. 30.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the storm was about 255 miles west of Key West, Fla., and was moving toward the northwest at about 13 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It had top sustained winds of around 100 mph. Category 2 storms have winds between 96 mph and 110 mph.

Federal authorities gave assurances they would not check people's immigration status at evacuation loading zones or inland checkpoints. But residents were skeptical, and there were worries that many illegal immigrants would refuse to board buses and go to shelters for fear of getting arrested and deported.

"People are nervous," said the Rev. Michael Seifert, a Roman Catholic priest and immigrant advocate. "The message that was given to me was that it's going to be a real problem."

One reason for the skepticism: Back in May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Border Patrol would do nothing to impede an evacuation in the event of a hurricane. But when Hurricane Dolly struck the Rio Grande Valley in late July, no mandatory evacuation was ordered, and as a result the Border Patrol kept its checkpoints open. Agents soon caught a van load of illegal immigrants.

___

Associated Press writers April Castro in Austin, Texas and Regina L. Burns and Jeff Carlton in Dallas contributed to this report.

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                                   Houston-Galveston could face major damage from Ike






By JUAN A. LOZANO,
Associated Press Writer
Sept. 11, 2008
 
HOUSTON - Gleaming skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas that could be vulnerable to wind and damaging floodwaters if Hurricane Ike crashes ashore as a major hurricane.
 
Forecasters expect the storm to make landfall this weekend somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston, creating the potential for heavy punishment for Houston even if it's not hit directly.

Some forecasts say Ike could strengthen to a fearsome Category 4 hurricane with winds of at least 131 mph over the Gulf of Mexico, and 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 of the storm often packs heavy rains, walloping storm surge and tornadoes.

"I expect a lot of damage in Houston from this storm," said Masters, adding that Ike could cause a "huge storm surge" affecting at least 100 miles of the Texas coast.

Houston officials were expecting some flooding, the question is how much.

Patrick Trahan, spokesman for the city of Houston, told The Associated Press early Thursday that "based on the current forecast (we) would expect to see some flooding based solely on the surge in some low-lying areas."

Four counties south and east of Houston have announced mandatory or voluntary evacuations, and authorities began moving weak and chronically ill patients by bus to San Antonio, about 190 miles from Houston. About 1 million people live in the coastal counties between Corpus Christi and Galveston.

But no immediate evacuations were ordered in Harris County, which includes Houston.

The Galveston-Houston area could be on the edge of hurricane-force wind gusts, even if the storm makes land 100 miles to the southwest as some forecasts say is likely, said forecaster Joe Bartosik. Storm surges in the Houston-Galveston area could reach 10 to 14 feet in a Category 3 storm, and as much as 20 feet for a Category 4, said Bartosik, senior meteorologist with WeatherBug, a private weather company with 1,500 weather stations along the Gulf Coast.

The surge in Galveston Bay could push floodwaters into Houston, damaging areas that include the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Diana Rangel, a lifelong resident of Freeport, which is under a mandatory evacuation order in Brazoria County, said it is better that she, her family and other residents on the Texas coast, leave.

"We don't want to get stuck out here (in flood waters)," she said Wednesday as she filled her car with gasoline at a convenience store in Freeport overrun with other vehicles waiting in line to fill up.

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

Texas is home to 26 refineries that account for one-fourth of U.S. refining capacity, and most are clustered along the Gulf Coast in such places as Houston, Port Arthur and Corpus Christi. Exxon Mobil Corp.'s plant in Baytown, outside Houston, is the nation's largest refinery. Dow Chemical has a huge operation just north of Corpus Christi.

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. An extended shutdown could lead to higher gasoline prices.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Ike was a Category 2 storm with winds near 100 mph. It was about 620 miles east of Brownsville, Texas, and was moving west-northwest near 9 mph, after ravaging homes in Cuba and killing dozens of people in the Caribbean.

___





Associated Press writers Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, John Porretto in Houston, Monica Rhor in Houston, Michelle Roberts in San Antonio and Christopher Sherman in Corpus Christi contributed to this report.

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                                 Deadly Ike eyes Texas, could strengthen before strike





22 minutes ago
 
Sept. 11, 20008

HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) - Thousands of people fled the Texas Gulf coast Thursday as deadly Hurricane Ike bore down, with forecasters warning the sprawling storm could gain added force before it crashes into the coast near Houston, the key US oil hub and major space center.

Houston, just inland from Galveston and on track to feel some of Ike's wrath, is home to 2.2 million people, and its metropolitan area is the country's 6th largest topping 5.6 million.

"There will, of course, be fluctuations in the forecast location during the next two days, prior to landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Areas from Corpus Christi to southwestern Louisiana remain potential landfall sites. But as of now Houston couldn't be much more at risk than it is," a science columnist for The Houston Chronicle warned.

Officials in the Texas coastal city of Corpus Christi said they were reluctant to order a mandatory evacuation.

"We have a huge oil and gas industry presence here with refineries and oil and gas processing facilities," said city spokeswoman Kim Womack. "We don't want to issue a mandatory evacuation because that would completely shut down operations and make recovery very difficult."

The bulk of US oil refineries are in the Gulf of Mexico, and Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell had said its personnel would be evacuated from offshore installations by Wednesday.

Residents, however, prepared for the storm even if they were reluctant to get out of town.

Galveston neighbors Celia Padnos and Leslie LeGrande said they were jaded after evacuating before Hurricane Rita in 2005, which veered away at the last minute. They plan to say at home if Ike is anything less than a Category Three hurricane.

"I hate driving and I ended up driving for 14 hours to Austin (normally a 3.5 hour drive) with one cat, all my family photos, food and two young children in the car," said Padnos, recalling Hurricane Rita.

"Unless it's really bad, we don't want to go anywhere," said LeGrande.

If forced to evacuate, LeGrande hopes that hotels will be available. During the Rita scare, many hotels were already filled with Katrina victims, she said.

Ike was listed as a category two storm but predicted to rise to three on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale. "Ike could become a major hurricane today or on Friday," the National Hurricane Center said.

At 1200 GMT Thursday, Ike's center was located about 270 miles (435 km) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving northwest at near 16 kilometers (10 miles) an hour, it added.

Ike packed winds of near 160 kilometers (100 miles) an hour, with higher gusts, though it is expected to gain strength over the next 24 hours as it travels over the warm open waters of the Gulf.

The center described Ike as "a large tropical cyclone" with hurricane force winds extending outward up to 185 kilometers (115 miles).

After ravaging Haiti and Cuba , Ike was churning in the Gulf heading west toward Texas. President George W. Bush declared an emergency in Texas, freeing up federal aid to boost local efforts.

Governor Rick Perry, who ordered special disaster preparations, said state officials had begun evacuating ill, elderly and poor residents.

Ike, which has left more than 100 dead across the Caribbean, could slam into the Texas coast immediately south of the port of Galveston late Friday or early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center forecast.

In Haiti, several hundred were killed by a rapid succession of powerful tropical storms and hurricanes over the past month including Ike.

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                                     With Ike, size matters for killer storm surge






By SETH BORENSTEIN,
AP Science Writer
Sept. 11, 2008
 
Hurricane Ike's gargantuan size — not its strength — will likely push an extra large storm surge inland in a region already prone to it, experts said Thursday.
 
Ike's giant girth means more water piling up on Texas and Louisiana coastal areas for a longer time, topped with bigger waves. So storm surge — the prime killer in hurricanes — will be far worse than a typical storm of Ike's strength, the National Hurricane Center said.

And because coastal waters in Texas and Louisiana are so shallow, storm surge is usually larger there than in other regions, according to storm experts. A 1900 hurricane following a similar track to Ike inundated Galveston Island, killing at least 8,000 people — America's deadliest storm.

"It's a good recipe for surge," said Benton McGee, supervisory hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's storm surge center in Ruston, La. "We're already seeing water being piled up in the Gulf. On top of that you're going to have water forced into the bays along the coast."

The National Hurricane Center is forecasting a 20-foot surge — a rapid rising of water inundating areas and moving inland — for a large swath of Texas and the Louisiana coasts. Above that, the center predicts "large and dangerous battering waves." Waves could be 50 feet tall, said hurricane center spokesman and meteorologist Dennis Feltgen.

Some computer models have waves topping out at 70 feet, but the waves usually break well before hitting shore, so the maximum usually doesn't get quite that high.

"It's going to do tremendous damage over a large area even if its doesn't strengthen anymore," predicted former hurricane center director Max Mayfield.

That's directly due to Ike's size. Experts are trying to figure out when they've seen a storm this wide. Ike's tropical storm force winds stretch for 510 miles, and weather radar from Galveston to Key West can see its outer bands. That's about 70 percent larger than an average hurricane.

"Because of the very large expanse of hurricane force winds, Ike will create a storm surge well in excess of what would normally be associated with a storm of its intensity," the National Hurricane Center warned late Thursday afternoon.

Areas that have a hurricane warning — Morgan City, La., to Baffin Bay, Texas — can expect storm surges up to 20 feet. Areas with a tropical storm warning — Baffin Bay to Port Mansfield, Texas, and Morgan City to the Mississippi-Alabama border — can expect five to seven feet of storm surge, Feltgen said.

The size and relatively slow speed means more water keeps building, pushing inland for hours after Ike hits the coast, McGee said.

Geography doesn't help either. Experts say the Texas coast ranks second, behind Louisiana, as the worst region for storm surge in the United States. That's because the water there is shallower than in most other regions. The energy from a hurricane needs a way to escape. Deeper water can absorb more of it, dissipating the surge, but along the Texas coastline, the water has nowhere to go but up on shore, McGee said. Think of the Gulf of Mexico as a shallow bathtub with a big-time disturbance in it, Mayfield said.

Storm surges reached 16 feet during 2005's Hurricane Rita, which hit just east of Galveston, McGee said. Because the worst surge is always just east of the eye of the hurricane, the Galveston-Houston area was spared the worst of the damage.

Houston is buffered by Galveston Island — which sits in the way of the surge — and the bay system, but still is likely to get a rush of high water as the bay, rivers and canals fill up, McGee said. And water that rushes into Galveston Bay may not be able to get out after the storm, he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey on Thursday sent five teams to the Texas and Louisiana coast installing 80 storm surge devices to measure the flood to come, McGee said.