Cuba feels the force of Hurrican Ike

Hurricane Ike roared across Cuba today, blowing buildings to rubble and sending waves surging over homes.

More than 900,000 Cubans evacuated from its path, which forecasters said could take it to Louisiana or Texas later this week.

Ike, which raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti that have already killed 319 people, made landfall on Cuba as a fearsome Category 3 hurricane, then weakened to a Category 2 today as it ran along the length of the island.

There were no immediate reports of deaths in Cuba, despite storm-whipped waves that crashed over five-storey buildings and winds that uprooted trees and toppled utility poles.

Forecasters said Ike could weaken further before making a direct hit on Havana, where decaying, historic buildings are especially vulnerable, then regain force in the Gulf of Mexico before slamming into the US 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.

Images on state television showed the storm surge washing over coastal homes in the eastern most city of Baracoa and smashing into a five-storey apartment building, hurling heavy spray over its rooftop.

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.

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

A few street signs were topped at the US 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 about 45 miles west-southwest of Camaguey. Forecasters said it would likely move out into the Caribbean, picking up strength over warm water, before making Cuban landfall again.

Ike was expected to hit Havana, 290 miles away, early tomorrow.

As the storm weakened officials in the Florida Keys cancelled an evacuation order because new forecasts show Hurricane Ike veering south and west.

A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch remain in effect for the island chain.

Gulf Coast residents from Florida to Texas are keeping an eye on Ike’s unpredictable path.

Forecasters said it 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 today.

“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.

Mary James, a long-time resident of Grand Turk, said up to 90% of the island “is just a disaster”.

“I slept in the toilet, me and my family. That’s how we survived,” she said.

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 yesterday.