KEY WEST, Fla., Sept. 8, 2008
Ike Veers, Fla. Keys Evacuation Called Off
Category 2 Hurricane Passes Over Cuba, To Enter Gulf Of Mexico Tuesday
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Play CBS Video Video Key Westers Take Hike From Ike Hurricane Ike brushed past Cuba on its way to the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 storm. Dave Price reports on the storm's trajectory.
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Video Florida Braces For Ike Hurricane Ike is thundering toward Florida and in preparation, officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Florida Keys. Priya David reports
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Video Ike, Hannah Head For U.S. Residents along the East Coast are preparing for the worst, as Tropical Storm Hannah and Hurricane Ike will soon hit the U.S. But, as Priya David reports, not everyone has heeded the storm warnings.
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Joey Marullo adjusts lines on the Jolly II Rover sailboat in Key West, Fla. in preparation for Hurricane Ike, Sept. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
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Jorge Fermin Sarut looks at his son Tristan as he listens to music on his iPod at a Red Cross Shelter in Miami, Sept. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Al Diaz)
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Photo Essay Inundated By Ike Storm churned across Cuba after causing more deadly floods in Haiti. Texas landfall likely.
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Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that it was still too early to tell where Ike would strike after entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday night. Gulf Coast communities as far away as Texas were keeping a nervous eye on the storm, especially in Louisiana, where residents are still recovering from Hurricane Gustav.
Evacuation orders that had 15,000 tourists flee the Keys over the weekend were set to expire at noon Monday. Authorities suggested residents wait until Wednesday to return and urged those who had not left to stay indoors until any errant squalls passed. Tourists should wait until the weekend.
A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch remained in effect for the Keys, though Ike's expected track was well south and west of the islands.
And even if Florida dodged a bullet for now, State Meteorologist Ben Nelson told CBS Radio, "Once Ike gets back into the Gulf of Mexico it's very likely to intensify back to a major hurricane." And where it's headed is anyone's guess.
The fact that it is threatening the Gulf Coast is keeping oil producers from resuming work at off-shore drilling platforms and refineries there which were taken offline before Hurricane Gustav rolled through.
That's causing oil prices to rise, says Energy Analyst Phil Flynn with Alaron Trading in Chicago: "It's blowing up the price of oil and blowing it down depending on whatever the latest track of the storm is," Flynn told CBS Radio. "It's having a major impact on oil prices even before the storm hits."
A Hardy Bunch
Most storm-hardened Keys residents said they had never intended to leave, or even worry.
"Us folks have lived here for years. We worry but we always think it will be OK," said 80-year-old Barbara Kellner while walking her dog in Key West early Monday. "And we see the weather report today, and it appears it all will be OK."
Key West shop owner Mike McClain is taking the storm seriously. "This is a pretty big storm," he told CBS Radio. "I mean, if it jogs one way or the other, it can jam you."
Key West residents are a hardy bunch, generations of whom have lived through storms. They typically take a wait-and-see stance, and Monroe County officials had anticipated that most of the roughly 25,000 residents of the Lower Keys would have stayed put through Ike.
One Key West man who calls himself Uncle Russell told CBS Radio that longtime residents are sanguine about their hurricanes. "I think you'll find the general attitude of most people who've made it through a few is just to lay back and see what happens. We know what to do when it comes."
Many of those residents complained that authorities needlessly scared people away.
"I think they called the guns out a little too soon. They killed business," said Deborah Dietrich, the manager of a nearly empty bakery. "Whether we have hurricane ruin or not, there's financial ruin."
Dietrich said the Croissants de France bakery would be lucky to tally $300 in sales for the weekend. They usually bring in more than $6,000 each day of an average weekend with no storm looming, she said.
Monroe County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro said he didn't regret telling tourists and residents to get out of town ahead of Ike, though he acknowledged that such orders are costly. He estimated businesses throughout the Keys lost about $10 million because of evacuations for Tropical Storm Fay last month.
Officials estimate tourists spend about $175 a day in the Keys. With some 20,000 having fled for Ike, that's about $3.5 million for each day they're gone.
Many business owners along the evacuation route in the Upper Keys also had reluctantly boarded up their properties. A sign outside Island Silver and Spice in Islamorada said "Closed Til Ike Passes." At the Village Gourmet diner, only three customers showed up for breakfast Monday.
"It kills my business," owner David Gillon said of the evacuation orders. "It's hard enough to make it in the Keys as it is. Every time they do these evacuations, it's two weeks to a month before you get back to where it was."
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba Sunday night, slamming into Holguin province at 9:45 p.m. EDT as a dangerous Category 3 storm. The hurricane weakened to a Category 2 storm early Monday as it moved over Cuba, with wind speeds still at about 100 mph.
Though Ike's storm surge still could push up to 3 feet of water into the Keys, officials said flooding isn't a concern.
"This isn't going to be anything like Fay," Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said.
Fay came ashore with gusty winds and downpours, leaving spotty flooding up to 3 feet deep in some places of town, but largely spared Key West of any major damage.
Ike's winds and massive storm surge ripped apart houses and toppled trees Monday in Cuba as it headed across the country toward Havana and its historic but decaying old buildings. More than 770,000 Cubans evacuated to shelters or higher ground.
Ike tore through Cuba after roaring across the Caribbean, killing at least 58 people in Haiti. Forecasters had the storm track continuing west over Cuba's western coast before taking aim at the Gulf of Mexico.
And once again, New Orleans — still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav last week — could be in the crosshairs as Ike winds through its uncertain path.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Sunday for Ike and urged residents to get ready to head north again. He said so-called "hurricane fatigue" should not prevent people from evacuating their homes for the second time in 10 days.
"We are likely going to have to become accustomed to evacuating more frequently than when we were younger," Jindal said.
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Gustav is hanging on as a Cat 1 storm after having taken some serious lumps trashing Holgiun, Las Tunas and Camaguey. Maximum sustained winds are 80 mph and the central pressure has risen to 28.53. Movement is west at 12 mph.
Ike has not quite let go of Cuba but his center and southern quadrants are over water. He is expected to hug the coastline clear up to the capes and may further weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses land again before being spat into the gulf a few miles west of Havana.
Tropical storm notwithstanding, there is a potential for heavy, flooding rains since Cuba is already waterlogged from Gustav and Hanna. And even a comparatively anemic 45 to 65 mph wind can still knock down trees and rip up roofs.....
Posted by Seafang at 08:00 PM : Sep 08, 2008
Re-organizing after a tough land crossing is always a bit dicey. Some storms do just fine, Katrina did. Gustav didn''t spin up as much as expected but it also ran through the Gulf at nearly 20 mph and didn''t have as much time to soak up all that heat as some of the other bad boyz (and girlz) did. He also overan a pool of comparatively cool water and that also took some of the wind out of his sails.
No one really knows how much Ike will intensify after he enters the gulf. He COULD go all the way to Cat 5 if he lingers over the loop eddy, but my guess is he''ll max out as a high 3 or weak 4.
Posted by BajaJohn1 at 07:53 PM : Sep 08, 2008 "
So why didn''t Gustav become a cat 5 storm since it went through those same waters.
And given how much heat Gustav sucked out of the gulf waters, there''s less for Ik to feed on; so why would it go to a 5?
Posted by sly_64
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I bet it hits Kew West. Lots of queers there.
Posted by gophockeymom at 02:10 PM : Sep 08, 2008
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GOP, you... I gotta admit you and your repugnant ideas and idiotic statements are the reasons I read a lot of these posts.
You are really the only living example I can think of for gun control. You''''''''d be a very dangerous individual to yourself and the neighboring population with a gun.
Posted by docpeter at 02:32 PM
this guy is a phony, don''''t let him upset you. He likes to incite rage. He used to call himself GOP_Forever. I think he''''s hilarious
Posted by enlightenu at 03:20 PM : Sep 08, 2008
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Oh I am not upset. I just realize God must love stupid people... he madde sooo many of them. Like the post below:
God`s way of saying, "Clean up that abomination you`ve made in Guantanamo."
Posted by Nancy_Naive at 03:31 PM : Sep 08, 2008
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Come on Nancy, who created Gitmo? Florida or GWB?
This is a test of recent history Nancy.
Let us see how your short term memory works!
Posted by sly_64
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I bet it hits Kew West. Lots of queers there.
Posted by gophockeymom at 02:10 PM : Sep 08, 2008
___________
GOP, you... I gotta admit you and your repugnant ideas and idiotic statements are the reasons I read a lot of these posts.
You are really the only living example I can think of for gun control. You''''d be a very dangerous individual to yourself and the neighboring population with a gun.
Posted by docpeter at 02:32 PM
this guy is a phony, don''t let him upset you. He likes to incite rage. He used to call himself GOP_Forever. I think he''s hilarious
Posted by pollroller1 at 01:44 PM : Sep 08, 2008
LOL, If that were the case, then Washington D.C. would have been leveled, sucked into the sea, or would have been burned 5 years ago. Most likely all three at the same time.
- by pollroller1 September 8, 2008 4:44 PM EDT
- Yeah, it it misses it''s the power of prayer. If it hits, well that''s because the people are sinners. LOL
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