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

A strengthened Hurricane Ivan headed towards Cuba’s tobacco growing north west corner, with winds reaching 195 mph tonight, after ravaging the Cayman Islands.

Hurricane Michelle gathered strength for a strike on Cuba as it crept across the western Caribbean today on a course that could also take it to Florida or the Bahamas.