Saturday, September 06, 2008

Hurricane Ike near Turks and Caicos; Cuba braces

Hurricane Ike is seen moving across the Atlantic Ocean as Tropical Storm Hanna bears down on the US

MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the large eye of an "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Ike is lurking "near or over" the Turks and Caicos islands as a fierce Category 4 storm.

The center said at 11 p.m. EDT Saturday that the core of the fierce hurricane has now approached the low-lying British island territory. It added that Ike is packing powerful winds of 135 mph.

The center also says a hurricane warning is now in effect for several Cuban provinces as well as parts of the southeastern and central Bahamas.

Forecasters say the outer edge of the hurricane is expeced to begin affecting parts of the Bahamas overnight as the storm approaches Cuba and southern Florida sometime Sunday night or early Monday.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iLUWqLQhRD0-04G4mdGIPLiG1ZiwD931KB600