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Turks And Caicos Lashed By Approaching Hurricane Ike

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The Associated Press

Published: September 7, 2008

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos - Hurricane Ike lashed homes with howling winds Saturday as it neared this low-lying island chain as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, prompting thousands of people to evacuate or scramble for shelter.

As the massive gray wall of clouds approached from the east, people poured into the main supermarket in Providenciales, expecting that power would be knocked out and that food would become scarce.

Shopkeepers and homeowners covered windows with plywood. Boats were hauled ashore or secured with multiple anchors.

"I am very, very nervous," John Moore, a fishing boat captain, said as he tied down his 61-foot vessel in a Providenciales cove. "It looks like it might go right over us, so that's not a good picture."

The outer bands of the storm brought fierce, palm-bending winds and a scattering of rain.

The governments of the Bahamas and Cuba issued hurricane warnings.

The approach of the hurricane also raised alarm in Haiti, where aid officials feared it could worsen deadly flooding. Cuba, still recovering from a devastating hit by Category 4 Hurricane Gustav last month, was directly in Ike's projected path.

Forecasters said Ike was expected to reach the northern coast of eastern Cuba tonight or early Monday.

U.S. military commanders at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in southeast Cuba were coordinating storm preparations, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Lamb. The U.S. base holds some 255 men suspected of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida in hurricane-proof cells.

Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick said his government opened shelters throughout the islands and brought in an emergency food shipment.

In the Bahamas, the government urged tourists to evacuate the sparsely populated southeastern islands.

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