CUBA:HURRICANE IKE moved over warm Caribbean water off the Cuban coast yesterday after blowing off roofs, toppling trees and flattening sugar cane fields like a giant lawnmower on a path toward US oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
The deadly hurricane lost some of its power over Cuba, but was still causing widespread damage. It could restrengthen south of Cuba over warm water, "a very powerful fuel," said forecaster Jose Rubiera of the Cuban weather service.
Ike's approach further disrupted energy output from the Gulf, which produces a quarter of US oil and 15 per cent of its natural gas.
Much of that production was first shut down before hurricane Gustav pounded the region last week. Ike was expected to hit eastern Texas, but a small deviation could threaten New Orleans, the city swamped in 2005 when hurricane Katrina killed 1,500 people and caused $80 billion in damage on the US Gulf Coast.
Ike tore roofs off houses when it hit Britain's Turks and Caicos Islands as a ferocious category four hurricane, and floods triggered by its torrential rains were blamed for at least 61 deaths in Haiti, where tropical storm Hanna killed 500 last week.
Ike weakened to a category two storm with 160km/h (100mph) winds after roaring ashore in northeastern Cuba late on Sunday.
Cuban television showed huge waves slamming into the sea wall and surging as high as nearby five-storey apartment buildings before flooding the streets of the city of Baracoa near the eastern tip of the island.
Officials said at least 1.5 million people were evacuated from vulnerable areas in Cuba, which is still reeling from hurricane Gustav's strike on western provinces last week. - ( Reuters)