Hurricane Ike Heads for Havana as it Batters the Bahamas

by Christina 123 | September 7, 2008 at 01:05 pm

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There is speculation tonight that killer Hurricane Ike - ten people drowned in the low-lying islands of Turks and Caicos so far - could be whistling in a straight line towards Havana, as Cuba battens down the hatches in readiness. Cubans have staged a mass evacuation program as Hurricane Ike tears down like a torpedo..

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Ike roared across low-lying islands Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, destroying homes, sweeping away boats and bringing more rain to waterlogged communities in Haiti, where at least 10 more people drowned.

Bearing down on the Bahamas and then Cuba on a path that could directly hit Havana, the "extremely dangerous" hurricane forced hundreds of thousands of people to huddle in shelters or seek higher ground. Cuba evacuated vulnerable communities, and with a strike on the Florida Keys possible by Tuesday, residents there fled up a narrow highway.

It was too early to know of deaths on other islands where Ike's most powerful winds were still blowing.

The center of the hurricane hit the Bahamas' Great Inagua island, where screaming winds threatened to peel plywood from the windows of a church sheltering about 50 people, shelter manager Janice McKinney said.

"Oh my God, I can't describe it," McKinney said, adding that the pastor led everyone in prayer while the winds howled.