Ike Heads For Texas After Hitting Havana

Forecasters Predict Hurricane Could Strengthen To Category 3 By The Weekend

(CBS/AP)  Hurricane Ike moved into the warm waters of the Gulf and took aim at the U.S. and Mexican coasts Tuesday after bringing down aging buildings in Havana and tearing through western Cuba's tobacco country.

Forecasters said Ike, which has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, could strengthen into a massive Category 3 storm before slamming into Texas or Mexico this weekend.

Residents in Texas and northern Mexico braced for a weekend hit from Ike.

Given its current trajectory, Ike potentially could hit Texas Saturday, reported CBS Early Show weather anchor Dave Price, who added that the storm's intensity is still "too hard to predict."

Some 1.2 million people - more than a tenth of Cuba's population - sought refuge from Ike, which killed four people and shredded hundreds of homes as it barreled across the island.

Winds howled and rains lashed the empty streets of Havana as towering waves broke over the seaside Malecon promenade, devoid of the bustling crowds of Havana residents who normally fish and chat by day and drink and socialize at night. Navigation was banned in Havana Bay, its usually placid surface stirred up by white-capped waves.

Police braved the storm to stop all but emergency traffic in streets littered with branches, rocks and the rubble from crumbling balconies.

The heavy rains soaked the buildings of Havana's picturesque older areas, causing some of the more dilapidated to collapse. Four aging houses on a single block were reduced to rubble when their walls came tumbling down with a loud boom, and work crews labored with heavy machinery in the strong winds to clear the rubble from the street.

Collapsing buildings were reported throughout the city, and more were probable in coming days as the structures dry out and weaken. All of the buildings appeared to have been evacuated, and no injuries were reported.

To the west, reports of damage were still sketchy as Ike moved across the region. Dangerous storm surges were reported along the southwestern coast, which is lined with small fishing villages. State news media said 19 coastal communities were evacuated.

State television said reservoir levels in the western province of Pinar del Rio were dangerously close to overflowing and flooding nearby communities and roads.

Many in the region, where most of Cuba's famed tobacco is grown, were still without power and water after monstrous Hurricane Gustav struck as a category 4 storm on Aug. 30. That storm damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage, but didn't kill anyone because of massive evacuations.

Cuba evacuated for Ike as well, with hundreds of thousands seeking safety with friends, relatives or at government shelters. Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children, but in an authoritarian state, few people ignore the government's advice.

Teresa Tejeda said she was too scared to stay in her shaky, old apartment building, and joined several hundred other elderly people at a government shelter.

"My house has really bad walls and I feel much more secure here," said Tejeda, who is in her 70s.

Police told Niyel Rodriguez, 21, that she had to move to a shelter with her 19-day-old daughter Chanel. She huddled Tuesday with 109 expectant and new mothers and their children in a wing of an Old Havana maternity hospital.

"They came looking for me yesterday and brought me here in a patrol car," Rodriguez said. "I probably would have been scared to stay at home with my little one, and here they take good care of us. They give us breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything we need for the babies."

Officials evacuated about 10,000 tourists from vulnerable seaside hotels, mostly from the Varadero resort east of Havana.

Francisco Camps, operations manager for Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts in Cuba, said no major problems were reported at the Spanish chain's 24 hotels on the island and no guests were hurt. Ike broke some windows and caused roof damage at two of its hotels in the eastern province of Holguin, he said.

Spanish tourists Jose Luis and Avelina Alonso spent the last day of their Cuba vacation in the lobby of an Old Havana hotel. They were getting free meals, but said weather had wrecked their vacation plans.

"We arrived with Gustav and we are leaving with Ike," Jose Luis Alonso said.

State television said four people died as Ike moved across the island, including two men killed removing an antenna from a roof, a woman who died when her home collapsed and a man killed by a falling tree.

Out in the Gulf, Ike was expected to strengthen before hitting the coast in Texas or northern Mexico this weekend.

"When it's out of Cuba it has the potential to become a lot stronger," said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

However, oil prices closed below $104 a barrel for the first time since early April, in part because traders were betting Ike would miss critical Gulf Coast oil installations.

Mexican officials warned that unrelated heavy rains in the northern part of the country had caused more than a dozen dams to reach capacity or spill over. If Ike brings more rain to the area, evacuations could be needed.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Ike was just off the coast of western Cuba, 90 miles west-southwest of Havana. It was moving west-northwest at 10 mph and its maximum sustained winds were 75 mph.

Meanwhile Tropical Storm Lowell was off Mexico's Pacific coast, projected to cut across the Baja California Peninsula on Wednesday or Thursday and emerge over the Gulf of California near the town of Loreto, popular with U.S. tourists. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, but was expected to weaken before hitting land.

[minnick8-2009]

I am just starting out in the world after college what should i look for.

Posted by tpraskac

Since you are asking, I''m going to give you some free advice that I learned the hard way.

Figure out what you are good at and how you can apply it in today''s job market. Recognize that no one is going to roll out the red carpet for you just becuase you are a graduate. Be ready to roll up your sleeves and actually work. When your boss or supervisor gives you work, smile and take it willingly as long as it is not immoral and not illegal. Here are some other points to ponder:

#1: Society doesn''t owe you anything. Don''t expect to start out with what your parents took a lifetime to earn.

#2: Life is not an order line at McDonald''s. Don''t expect to get everything you ask for within two minutes of asking.

#3: Recognize that looking for work is a full-time job until you find your job. Expect to receive a number of letters of rejection. The average job search is about six months to a year in a healthy economy.

#4: Stay away from alcohol and drugs. If you go to parties, use some discretion about your behavior.

#5: Get involved in volunteerism. While looking for the job you want, spend your other time teaching illiterate people how to read, being a big brother or big sister, building homes for Habitat for Humanity, working in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter. The contacts you make volunterring could lead to the employment you desire.

Good luck!

[maedean]

You mean this hurricane is going to take all the whinning away from the scum bags in New Orleans. They were still standing there with there hands out for more FEMA money. Now that ain''t right !!!!

[gce65]

Texas to Ike:

"Come on! I dare you!. Hit me, Ike! And this time...PUT SOME STANK ON IT!!!"

[docpeter-2009]

its scary reading some of the comments, until i got a computer i didnt know how many really weird people there are out there

Posted by jyates99 at 12:04 PM : Sep 09, 2008
______________
Weird can be fun.

[tpraskac]

Some people are commenting on people being weird out there. I am just starting out in the world after college what should i look for.

[questionnews]

gophockeymom is here for one reason, to rile people up. this person doesn''''''''t beleive in anything he or she is saying. It''''''''s just for attention.

Posted by sly_64 at 10:53 AM : Sep 09, 2008
_______________

Well I will sort of agree with you here. Actually though I think gophockeymom or gop_forever (whatever name he/she is going by this week) is actually a closet athiest/antichristian. He/she has it figured that by being as repulsive as he/she is then he/she can drive borderline Christians away, thereby decrreasing Christian influence in our lives.

Posted by docpeter at 11:33 AM : Sep 09, 2008

Gold stars for both of you. I have been quite amused for about a year that people actually take the stink bait that GOP--Forever--GOP SoccerMom---GOPHockeyMom casts out there. Yet, she / he keeps suckering people into biting & all I can say when I see it is FISH ON!!

[displeased]

its scary reading some of the comments, until i got a computer i didnt know how many really weird people there are out there
Posted by jyates99

Try visiting interstate truck stops. Your quest for weirdness will be satisfied.

[avigil2]

I am praying for it to hit Key West and wipe out the queers that live there. - Posted by gophockeymom

gophockeymom believes and prays to Allah, the God killer. Therefore, she''s probably a terrorist.

[jyates99]

its scary reading some of the comments, until i got a computer i didnt know how many really weird people there are out there

[docpeter-2009]

gophockeymom is here for one reason, to rile people up. this person doesn''''t beleive in anything he or she is saying. It''''s just for attention.

Posted by sly_64 at 10:53 AM : Sep 09, 2008
_______________

Well I will sort of agree with you here. Actually though I think gophockeymom or gop_forever (whatever name he/she is going by this week) is actually a closet athiest/antichristian. He/she has it figured that by being as repulsive as he/she is then he/she can drive borderline Christians away, thereby decrreasing Christian influence in our lives.

[sly_64]

gophockeymom is here for one reason, to rile people up. this person doesn''t beleive in anything he or she is saying. It''s just for attention.

[docpeter-2009]

I am praying for it to hit Key West and wipe out the queers that live there.

Posted by gophockeymom at 10:06 AM : Sep 09, 2008
_____________

Well well. I guess we will now find out IG you have found favor with God. If the hurricane hits there and the "queers that live there" are "wipe[d] out" then we will all know that God is answering your prayers. If God doesn''t answer your prayer then maybe you should reconsider what/how you are praying. Maybe even God doesn''t listen to you when you pray? Why? Could it be your attitude toward other humans, all of His people?

[sly_64]

Key West is 90% tourists, not queeers. But that''s 200 miles from me.

[sly_64]

Key West is 90% tourists, not ***.

[benice6]

We need to all get ready to donate to the red cross if this thing hits. Lets all pray that it stays out to sea.

[sly_64]

I wish it would come here, to S Florida. I love hurricanes.

[mrmiami]

Today is very sad for Cuba,www.miamiishot.net