Powerful Hurricane Ike threatens Cuba, Gulf

By Michael Haskins

KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike charged toward Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico as a ferocious storm on Saturday while Tropical Storm Hanna drenched the U.S. Atlantic coast after barreling ashore in the Carolinas.

The densely populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in south Florida was not out of the line of fire from Ike, a "major" Category 3 hurricane, and visitors were ordered to flee the vulnerable Florida Keys island chain from Saturday.

"We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Computer models indicated Ike was likely to target Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, presenting a severe threat to the crumbling colonial buildings of Havana and tourist hotels at Varadero.

The storm might then curve into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of this week's Hurricane Gustav, plowing toward an area that produces a quarter of domestic U.S. oil, and slamming ashore near New Orleans, which was swamped and traumatized by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

The deeper Ike goes into Cuba, the weaker it will be once it re-emerges over the Gulf of Mexico early next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"By day four, Ike is forecast to emerge back over open waters in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico," the Miami-based agency said. "Global models suggest the environment will be favorable for strengthening and the ocean should be plenty warm."

Hanna, meanwhile, did not reach hurricane strength before sloshing ashore between North and South Carolina overnight after killing 500 people in Haiti through torrential rain.