The large eye of hurricane ike was located over the Turks iand Caicos Islands and about 115 miles east of Great Inagua Island in the southeastern Bahamas. Ike is moving on a motion just south of due west near 15 mph. Hurricane Ike has intensified to a dangerous Category 4 storm with winds sustained at 135 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Winds had diminished earlier Saturday but gathered strength. Hurricane Ike had quite the growth spurt yesterday, jumping from a Category 1 to a Category 4 in about six hours. That means it now packs a powerful 135-mph sustained winds.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Ike is forecast to move near or over eastern Cuba later Sunday barreling toward Cuba as a Category 4 storm. By late Sunday the number of people reported killed in Haiti just from the effects of Hurricane Ike reached at least 58. The total of those killed in Haiti in the recent storms was in the hundreds. Hurricane Ike became the fifth named hurricane of the 2008 season on September 3. Strengthening quickly, Ike moved from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 3 hurricane several times over the weekend.

Sunday, the center said Ike’s sustained winds were clocked at 135 miles per hour, the eye of the storm was just west of Great Inaqua Island in the Bahamas, about 90 miles east-northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. The government of Cuba also extended a hurricane warning. ET, Ike’s eye was just east of Great Inagua Island in the southeastern Bahamas, with maximum sustained winds of 135 mph (215 kph). It was moving west-southwest at 14 mph (24 kph) and was expected to remain a major hurricane as it approaches eastern Cuba. I think the reason the Bahamas get short shrift in hurricane reports is their very proximity to our shores. If the Bahamas are getting hammered, or are in peril, so is Florida, and Florida will always get more ink from the U.S.

Even if the storm were to hit the Florida Keys as a Category 3 or 4 storm, Broward would get strong wind and rain. A direct hit remains possible because forecasts on an exact track of a storm are not reliable when the storm is this far away, they said. 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 ahead of the storm. In typical fashion, laid-back residents and business owners kept their shops, bars and restaurants open. Visitors to the Florida Keys are under a mandatory evacuation order.

Best Case: Ike is weakened by its transit across Cuba, and does not regain much strength. Restoration from Gustav will be interrupted; current Shut In is about 85%, and will jump back up to 100% by mid week and remain there through next weekend. It was about 50 kilometres off Cuba’s northern coast, moving westward at 22 km/h. In Cuba, residents and tourists were being evacuated from coastal areas. Holidaymakers were also ordered out of the Florida Keys, a string of islands stretching off the tip of Florida that could face heavy winds as the storm passes to the south.

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