US Braced for More Hurricanes As Hanna and Ike Approach

The turbulent Atlantic storm season continues to wreak havoc in the Caribbean today as residents in the south-east of the United States prepare for more potential hurricanes to brew up.

Tropical storm Hanna, with winds up to 65mph, has caused flooding and mudslides that have killed more than 60 people in Haiti.

"We are in a really catastrophic situation," the Haitian president Rene Preval told the Reuters news agency. "There are a lot of people on rooftops and there are prisoners that we cannot guard."

Hanna is now heading north-west towards the coast of South Carolina.

Behind it lies Hurricane Ike, which notched up category four level wind speeds 135mph in the mid-Atlantic. It is expected to hit the Bahamas on Sunday. And behind Ike there is tropical storm Josephine, which is weakening.

Following Bertha and Gustav, Ike is the third major hurricane of the season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

And forecasters warn that Hanna, which was classed as a category 1 hurricane earlier this week, is likely to reach hurricane speeds again by tomorrow.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned its reach was expanding, with tropical-storm force winds extending up to 290 miles (465km) from its center.

"Hanna has become a large tropical cyclone," the hurricane center said.

It said that hurricane watch may be required for a portion of the south-east of the US.

Long-range forecasts estimate that it could hit anywhere from Georgia to North Carolina on Saturday and curve along the US Atlantic coast.

The uncertain path of the storm has meant that emergency officials in US have so far held off from ordering an evacuation.

"Hopefully the good Lord will bless us and this storm will skirt past but we are ready in whatever case happens," said Keith Summey, the mayor of North Charleston.

Officials as far north as Washington DC have urged people to prepare for the possibility of heavy winds and rain.

Hanna comes as New Orleans residents start to return home after fleeing Hurricane Gustav, which did less damage than feared but still caused serious flooding and could leave some parts of Louisiana without electricity for up to a month.