Ike poses serious threat as it grows
Millions worry where it will hit
KEY WEST, Fla. — “Extremely dangerous” Hurricane Ike grew to fierce Category 4 strength Saturday as it roared on an uncertain path that forced millions — from the Caribbean to Florida, and Louisiana to Mexico — to wonder where it would eventually strike.
Preparations stretched more than 1,000 miles as the massive, 135- mph storm took a southwesterly shift that could send it over Cuba and the Florida Keys by Tuesday before heading into the warm open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And once again, a possible target was New Orleans and the already storm-weary U. S. Gulf Coast.
“These storms have a mind of their own,” Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said after a meeting with mayors and emergency officials. “There are no rules, so what we have to do is be prepared, be smart, vigilant and alert.”
First in Ike’s path was the low-lying British territory of Turks and Caicos, already pummeled for four days last week by Tropical Storm Hanna.
In Haiti, authorities tried to move thousands of people into shelters ahead of Ike as they still struggled to recover from Hanna, which killed 166.
Hanna did not pack the same punch Saturday while racing up the U. S. Eastern seaboard, but it did cause one death in a traffic accident on Interstate 95 in Maryland. It also brought wind and pelting rain all along its trek toward New England.
Along the East Coast, damage from Hanna was less than expected, in large part because the wind rarely topped 50 mph over land. There were sporadic power outages across the region.
Hanna flooded highways and delayed flights for hours in the New York City area, but officials reported no major damage as the heart of the storm approached.
Rain fell heavily at times, and the National Weather Service predicted the fast-moving storm would dump up to four inches of rain and buffet the area with winds of up to 50 mph. The effects were expected to be stronger on Long Island, where emergency shelters were opened and parks were closed.
Earlier Saturday, Hanna buffeted eastern North Carolina but passed quickly through the state, causing minimal damage.
The storm left patches of flooding, scattered power outages and some coastal erosion after making landfall at 3:20 a. m. along the North Carolina- South Carolina border. Some early morning flights were canceled at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, but the facility remained open.
Top winds did not exceed 60 mph, but Hanna did dump 4 to 6 inches of rain on the state.
Ike is another matter.
Tens of millions of people in countries spread over a swath of the hurricane zone monitored the trajectory of a storm that had a huge footprint, with tropical storm-force winds stretching up to 140 miles from its eye.
Late Saturday, Ike’s center was located about 60 miles east of Grand Turk Island as the storm moved west-southwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Center meteorologist Colin McAdie said the core of Ike was expected to pass “near or over” the Turks and Caicos and begin to affect the southeastern Bahamas overnight.
“It’s a very dangerous storm,” McAdie told the Associated Press. He added all indications were that Ike would remain a powerful storm.
Tourists were urged to leave the Bahamas, and authorities in the Dominican Republic began evacuating dozens of families from river banks that could flood with waters from two already overfilled dams.
In Cuba, the island’s top meteorologist warned Ike was a “true danger,” and government officials began the early phases of emergency preparations. But no alarm was evident in Havana, where the U. S. soccer team was set to play Cuba in a World Cup qualifying match.
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’s 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 expectation this time is, it will be very difficult to move the kind of numbers out of this city that we moved during Gustav.”
In Florida, batteries, water and gas cans became major commodities, as nearly the entire state appeared within the cone of areas that might be hit.
Visitors to the Florida Keys were under a mandatory evacuation order Saturday, and a light but steady stream of traffic rolled out of Key West.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.
