Hurricane Ike: Grand Turk "Flattened" - British Red Cross Launches Emergency Appeal

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Hurricane Ike Turns Category 4 on Collison Course for Bahamas and Cuba

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Hurricane Ike Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

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Grand Turk has been left utterly devastated in this scenic island.  90% of buildings are said to have suffered structural damage.  British naval helicoptors have brought in relief supplies, as the locals examine the wrecked buildings around them.

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British naval ships are on the way in an attempt to bring relief to the British territorial islands after the battering by IKE left many stricken.

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The British Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal after British colony Grand Turk has been left "flattened" by Hurricane Ike.  The additional storm surge is 5.5 metres so far. The islands of Turks and Caicos are very low-lying and therefore the situation is "very scary", as described by a resident. 

Ike is less "River Deep Mountain High" more "Like A Hurricane" as it heads for Bahamas "Nutbush City Limits".

The Turks and Caicos island are taking a battering as Hurricane Ike leaves heavy rainfalls in its wake.  The Turks and Caicos prime minister has confirmed that 80% of its structures have been damaged by winds up to 135 mph and gathering speeds of 14 mph.

The Hurricane is heading for Cuba, where its strength is expecting to lessen. However, residents of Flroida Keys face mandatory evacuation as residents of Haiti  continue to mop up after the flood damage caused by Hurricance Hanna which left 500 dead.

[q url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7602155.stm]

The Associated Press news agency quoted the Turks and Caicos prime minister as saying 80% of homes on Grand Turk and South Caicos islands had been damaged.

The storm is hammering the Bahamas with 135mph (215km/h) winds and is due to hit the Cuban coast on Sunday night.

Ike has also dumped rain on Haiti, still reeling from other recent storms.

At 1200 GMT, the centre of the Category Four hurricane was just east of Great Inagua Island in the south-eastern Bahamas, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

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Panic is spreading across the US Gulf coast as Hurricane Ike looks set to wreak havoc in Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas.  Ike has become "extremely dangerous", say experts.

[q url=http://www.theage.com.au/world/hurricane-ike-on-collision-course-with-bahamas-cuba-20080907-4b9n.html]

Hurricane Ike strengthened to an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm in the Atlantic today, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned, threatening island nations and raising the prospect of another huge storm slamming the US Gulf Coast.

Packing sustained winds near 215 kilometres per hour, powerful Ike was about 145 kilometres east of Grand Turk Island near the southern Bahamas shortly before 2100 GMT, and was expected to barrel into Cuba Sunday or Monday, the Miami-based NHC said in an advisory.

"Ike is now an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane on the (level one to five) Saffir-Simpson scale," the NHC said.

The powerful cyclone was churning west-southwest at 24 kilometres per hour and was on track to slam Turks and Caicos and the southern Bahamas late Saturday or early Sunday with as much as 30 centimetres of rain.