Hurricane Ike Forces Massive Evacuation As It Heads Towards Havana

Hurricane Ike was heading west towards the Cuban capital Havana today after forcing 1.2 million people to evacuate and killing at least four people.

It recorded winds of 80mph and is expected to pick up speed when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico before hitting the US.

Ike, which caused extensive damage in the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti, has killed at least 312 people in the region.

It made landfall on eastern Cuba as a category three hurricane, then weakened yesterday as it ran along the southern edge of Cuba.

It is forecast to reach Louisiana or Texas this weekend.

Cuban state TV reported that two men were killed in center of the country while removing an antenna from a roof. On the island's east, a woman died when her house collapsed on her and a man was killed by a falling tree. Despite a series of hurricanes and tropical storms these were the first confirmed deaths in Cuba this season.

The government ordered 1.2 million people to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters.

In Havana, where the hurricane was expected to unleash heavy winds and rain this morning, evacuations began in earnest yesterday afternoon.

The government closed schools and government offices in the capital as people reinforced windows with wood, removed plants from balconies and formed long queues at bakeries.

Nancy Nazal, who lives on the second floor of a high-rise apartment building overlooking the ocean, said authorities had told her to be prepared to evacuate and she was. "The truth is, we are scared," she said.

Gustav tore across western Cuba as a category four hurricane last month, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage. But no deaths were reported as a result of mandatory evacuations of at least 250,000 people.

"In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," said Jose Rubiera, head of Cuba's meteorological service.

Waves created by Ike crashed into five-story apartment buildings, hurling heavy spray over their rooftops, and winds that uprooted trees.

Falling utility poles crushed cars parked along narrow streets in the central city of Camagüey and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble.

Colonial columns were toppled and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the city, a Unesco world heritage site.

"I have never seen anything like it in my life. So much force is terrifying," said Olga Alvarez, 70, huddling in her Camagüey living room with her husband and teenage grandson. "We barely slept last night. It was just 'boom, boom, boom.'"

Felix García, a meteorologist at the US National Hurricane Center in Miami, forecast that Ike would become even more powerful.

"It's over warm waters," García said. "It can definitely maintain its strength right now, and when it's out of Cuba it has the potential to become a lot stronger."

State television said officials had taken measures to protect thousands of tourists at vulnerable seaside hotels, including about 10,000 foreigners at the Varadero resort, east of Havana.