Hurricane Ike puts the Caribbean on high alertHundreds of thousands have been evacuated in Cuba, Haiti and Bahamas
Large areas of the Caribbean are on high alert in anticipation of the brunt of Ike, the fourth hurricane and more fierce over the past three weeks. Meteorologists have highlighted their "extreme danger", a tropical storm intensity, 4 out of 5 of the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds over 200 kilometers per hour.
Last night, the Haitian authorities announced that 30 people, including several children, have died in floods caused by hurricane in Cabaret, near Port-au-Prince. The succession of temporary work is hampering aid in a country still immersed in the devastation caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna, which have left at least 600 dead and half a million affected, and have destroyed crops. Ike has been the only bridge of access to Gonaives, population brunt. According to humanitarian organizations, a real catastrophe is looming.
Having swept the Turks and Caicos Islands, where 80% of households have been affected, Ike last night was headed toward the Bahamas and Cuba, where he was expected between last night and this morning.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned yesterday that Ike could cause heavy rains, flash floods and landslides. The Caribbean countries have enacted emergency measures, and hundreds of thousands of people, including tourists, have been moved to shelters and safe areas.
In Cuba, Ike will tour the island from east to west for 24 hours, and threatens the cane fields and pithy colonial buildings in Havana. The authorities yesterday were evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from coastal areas of east and centre of the island, using any means of transport available. Tourists concentrated in the resorts of the north, between Guardalavaca and Varadero, were installed in the interior.
According to forecasts, Ike lost intensity as we enter Cuba, for strengthened again in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This is the fourth tropical storm of the season, after Fay, Gustav, Hanna.
