Four dead as hurricane hits Cuba

Hurricane Ike has moved back out to sea south of Cuba after battering the east of the island with torrential rain and giant waves, leaving chaos in its wake. Forecasters say Ike has weakened to a Category One Storm, but could still strengthen due to high sea temperatures before hitting Havana early on Tuesday. Four people are reported dead, and thousands have been evacuated. Ike earlier caused 61 deaths in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of the homes in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The hurricane first came ashore in Cuba on Monday near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin, about 510 miles (825km) south-east of Havana. State television broadcast pictures of the accompanying storm surge washing over coastal defences and sending waves crashing into buildings. One person was killed by a falling tree, an elderly woman died when her house collapsed and two others were electrocuted. The hurricane then weakened slightly and was downgraded to a Category Two storm, although the sustained winds of about 160km/h (100mph) tore the roofs off many buildings, knocked down trees and destroyed crops. As Ike moved back out to sea, the US National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a Category One hurricane after its maximum sustained winds dropped to about 130kmh (80mph). However, it said a slight increase in intensity was possible if the storm's centre remained over water. The eye of the storm is forecast to continue westward along Cuba's southern coast before hitting western Cuba on Tuesday morning and emerging into the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday night. The Cuban authorities have put the entire population on maximum alert and hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated to shelters or moved to higher ground. With Hurricane Gustav striking just a week ago, Cuba's internationally acclaimed emergency services have been stretched to the limit, the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says. Gustav caused serious damage to the western side of the island, damaging almost 100,000 homes. "In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," said Jose Rubiera, head of Cuba's meteorological service. Havana alert Ike is forecast to reach Havana early on Tuesday. A direct hit on the densely populated city of two million people, with its precarious colonial buildings, could be devastating, . The capital has been put on alert as authorities prepared to evacuate residents from some of the crumbling, older buildings. Among those evacuated from Cuba before the arrival of Ike were 15,000 tourists. North of Cuba, in the Florida Keys, authorities called off an evacuation order as it appeared the storm would pass to the south. But residents who had left the string of islands were urged to stay away until Wednesday until it was clear which way Ike was heading. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and warned coastal residents to be prepared to move inland for the second time in 10 days. The NHC said it was still too early to tell which direction Ike would move in once it entered the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday night. Haitian appeal Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has endured the onslaught of four tropical storms in a three-week period. Heavy rains and flooding sparked by the outer bands of Hurricane Ike killed at least 61 people in Cabaret, to the north of the capital Port-au-Prince. "The whole village is flooded," said local civil protection official Moise Jean-Pierre. "The death toll could go higher." The destruction in Haiti has been described as catastrophic. Police said 500 people were confirmed dead from recent Tropical Storm Hanna while others were still missing and the number could rise. The newly installed Prime Minister, Michele Pierre Louis, has launched a fresh appeal for international aid. She called in particular for helicopters to bring those left stranded by the floods to safety.