By Gene Cherry
SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Fierce Hurricane Ikeweakened as it charged across the Atlantic on Friday and tookaim at south Florida and the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexicowhile Tropical Storm Hanna was set to crash ashore in theCarolinas after killing at least 136 people in Haiti.
Hanna was expected to be just short of Category 1 hurricanestrength when it reaches the U.S. East Coast near the NorthCarolina and South Carolina border early on Saturday, the U.S.National Hurricane Centre said.
Nevertheless, authorities declared states of emergency,several North Carolina beach communities were under evacuationorders, campgrounds were shut and storm alerts were issued fromGeorgia to New Jersey, including for Washington, D.C., as theeighth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season pulledaway from the 700 far-flung islands of the Bahamas.
Ike was far more threatening.
An extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane on thefive-step Saffir Simpson scale on Thursday, it weakened a notchto a Category 3 with top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km perhour), the Miami-based hurricane centre said.
By 5 p.m. EDT (10 p.m. British time), it was spinning 430miles (690 km) north-northwest of the Leeward Islands of theCaribbean, still days away from reaching any land. Some furtherweakening was possible but the hurricane centre said Ike wasexpected to remain a "major" storm of Category 3 or higher.
Ike's track was riddled with uncertainty.
The hurricane centre's official forecast took it throughthe Florida Keys island chain as a ferociously destructiveCategory 4 hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico, where around4,000 offshore platforms produce a quarter of U.S. crude oiland 15 percent of the energy-hungry country's natural gas.
Visitors were ordered to evacuate the Keys on Saturday andresidents were ordered out beginning Sunday.
Some computer models took Ike near the heavily populatedMiami area in southeast Florida, where up to 1.3 million peoplecould be ordered to leave the coast.
"It's a lot coming at us. But we must remain vigilant,focused and calm," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said.
A Category 4 hurricane strike on Miami would be a hugedisaster because of the billions of dollars of vulnerable realestate in low-lying islands like Miami Beach and along thecoast of the Florida peninsula. Power would be out for millionsof people for an extended time.
TRIO OF THREATS
Tropical Storm Josephine churned weakly in Ike's wakeacross the Atlantic, boasting 40-mph (65-kph) winds and locatedaround 725 miles (1,160 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands.
The trio of Atlantic storms followed Hurricane Gustav'srampage through the Caribbean to Louisiana, where it cameashore on Monday west of New Orleans, largely sparing the citydevastated by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
The flurry underscored predictions for an unusually busysix-month hurricane season. An average season has 10 tropicalstorms, of which six strengthen into hurricanes with topsustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph). Josephine wasalready this year's 10th, and the statistical September 10 peakof the storm season still lies ahead.
While Hanna did little damage in the Bahamas and posed onlya moderate threat to the U.S. East Coast, the rainfall ittriggered over impoverished Haiti killed at least 136 people.
A freighter with food and water supplied by the U.N.'sWorld Food Program arrived in the mud-heaped port city ofGonaives, where thousands survived by climbing onto rooftopsuntil the flood water receded.
Hungry survivors had roamed the streets pleading for foodand water from U.N. peacekeepers who have patrolled thepoverty-stricken country for several years as it tries toestablish a stable democracy.
Hanna was the third deadly storm to strike Haiti in lessthan a month. Gustav previously killed at least 75 people andTropical Storm Fay killed more than 50.
By 5 p.m. EDT (10 p.m. British time), Hanna was 240 miles(385 km) south of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was racingnorth at 20 mph (32 kph) with top winds of 70 mph (115 kph).
"Although no significant change in strength is forecastbefore landfall it would only take a small increase in windspeed for Hanna to become a hurricane," the hurricane centersaid.
Hanna roiled the ocean off North and South Carolina with14-foot (4.2-metre) waves. Sunny skies gave way to rain showersand breezy conditions on North Carolina's Outer Banks whereresidents tested power generators and tied down trash cans andbeach chairs.
"It's a little breezy but not any more than a normal rainyday," said Lisa Bell, a manager at Howard's Pub and Restauranton Ocracoke Island, where the pirate Blackbeard once sailed.
The storm was expected to strike at high tide, bringing a5-foot (1.5-metre) storm surge likely to cause moderate coastalflooding, and heavy rains were expected far inland.
(Writing by Jane Sutton and Michael Christie; Editing byEric Walsh)
