By Marc Frank
HAVANA (Reuters) - Dangerous Hurricane Ike roared towardCuba with 135 mph (215 kph) winds on Sunday and was expected tosweep into the Gulf of Mexico where it could threaten the U.S.oil patch and possibly New Orleans.
Cuban authorities scrambled to evacuate hundreds ofthousands of people in the eastern and central coastal areasusing buses, trucks and whatever other transportation wasavailable as Ike bore down as a fierce Category 4 hurricanethat could flood the shore with 18 feet (5.5 metres) of water.
As Ike battered Britain's Turks and Caicos Islands and thesouthern Bahamas, residents of the Florida Keys, a 110-mile(177-km) island chain connected by bridges with only one roadout, were told to evacuate as a precaution.
When it emerges from Cuba, Ike could follow a path similarto that of last week's Hurricane Gustav toward Louisiana andTexas. That would be a threat to New Orleans, the city swampedby Katrina three years ago, and the Gulf energy rigs, whichaccount for a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of natural gasoutput.
MOVING TO HIGHER GROUND
Thousands of tourists staying at Cuba's prime resorts alongthe northern coast from Guardalavaca in eastern Holguin toVaradero in the west were being taken inland or to safelocations at resorts as hotels were boarded up.
Ranchers herded cattle in the prime grazing areas ofeastern Las Tunas and Camaguey to higher ground, while portworkers struggled to move cargo inland.
"We are at a disadvantage because there are no hills andmountains to break the wind," farm worker Artemio Madonadoemossaid from the flatlands of Las Tunas.
"If the storm comes through here the damage will beenormous," he said before closing up his humble dwelling andheading for his brother's home in the city of Las Tunas.
Ike was set to come ashore in Holguin, home of the nickelindustry, Cuba's most important export, then move westward overthe heart of the sugar industry. Holguin's mines and threeprocessing plants in the mountains were shut down.
Ike was forecast to batter the islands in its path withflooding up to 18 feet (5.5 metres) above normal tides and torain new misery on Haiti, where hundreds of people died infloods and mudslides caused by three storms in the past month.
By 11 a.m. EDT (4 p.m. British time), Ike was sweepingthrough the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory ofabout 22,000 people, and the sparsely populated southernBahamas.
The centre of the storm was located 15 miles (24 km)west-southwest of Great Inagua Island and was moving west at 13mph (21 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane centre said.
'TOO CLOSE'
A steady stream of traffic moved along the Overseas Highwayin the Florida Keys as an evacuation of residents began, eventhough Ike was expected to pass at least 100 miles (160 km) tothe south.
"It's just too close to not react to it," Monroe Countyadministrator Roman Gastesi said.
But many residents looked at the storm with typicalnonchalance in laid-back Key West. Pete Cooper and his wife,Diane, were bar-hopping along the waterfront on Saturday.
"We've prepared our house and feel safe," said Pete Cooper."As long as it's not a Cat-4, we are staying."
The densely populated Florida southeast coast from Miami toWest Palm Beach, home to some 5 million people and billions ofdollars of pricey real estate, appeared less likely to be hit.
Ike was forecast to curve into the Gulf in the wake ofGustav, which slammed ashore west of New Orleans, sparing thecity traumatized by Katrina in 2005.
Katrina killed 1,500 people and caused about $80 billiondamage on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Its most likely track had it headed for the Texas-Louisianaborder. But long-range forecasts have a large margin of errorand a slight deviation could take it toward New Orleans.
Forecasters expected Ike to weaken to a Category 1 storm onthe five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale over Cuba but toregain Category 3 strength as it nears the U.S. Gulf coast.
Oil companies had begun returning workers to the offshoreplatforms that were evacuated before Gustav hit. But onecompany, Shell Oil Co., said on Saturday it had stoppedreturning workers in case new evacuations were needed.
As of Saturday, more than 90 percent of Gulf oil productionand nearly 80 percent of natural gas was still shut down,according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.
(Additional reporting by Michael Haskins in Key West,writing by Jim Loney, editing by Bill Trott)
