Cat 4 Hurricane Ike Fiercer, Hanna Strengthens
HAITI: September 5, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Hurricane Ike strengthened rapidly into an fiercely
dangerous Category 4 hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and
Tropical Storm Hanna intensified to a lesser degree as it swirled over the
Bahamas toward the southeast US Coast.
Ike posed no immediate threat to land but strengthened explosively, growing
in the space of a few hours from a tropical storm to an intense Category 4
hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.
Ike had top sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph) as it swept across the
open waters of the west-central Atlantic 550 miles (885 km) northeast of the
Leeward Islands, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was moving
west-northwest near 17 mph (28 kph).
It was forecast to head for the southern Bahamas early next week but it was
too early to tell whether it would threaten land, the forecasters said.
It was also too soon to say whether Ike would threaten US oil and natural
gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico.
The hurricane center's Web site, with updates and graphics, is at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml.
Hanna's torrential rains had already submerged parts of Haiti, stranding
residents on rooftops and prompting President Rene Preval to warn of an
"extraordinary catastrophe" to rival a storm that killed more than 3,000
people in the flood-prone Caribbean country four years ago.
Hanna was forecast to move over the central and northern Bahamas on
Thursday, strengthening back into a hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph
(119 kph) before hitting the US coast near the North Carolina-Virginia
border on Saturday.
The government of the Bahamas had ended a hurricane warning for the
northwestern part of the islands, meaning a tropical storm warning was now
in effect for all of the Bahamas and for the Turks and Caicos Islands, the
hurricane center said.
'TENACIOUS CYCLONE'
Hanna has been a "tenacious tropical cyclone" that is forecast to regain
hurricane force in a day or two but possibly sooner, it said. "A hurricane
watch may be required for a portion of the southeastern United States coast
early Thursday," the center said.
Tropical Storm Josephine also marched across the Atlantic on a westward
course behind Ike but it had begun to weaken.
The burst of storm activity follows Hurricane Gustav, which slammed into
Louisiana near New Orleans on Monday after a course that also took it
through Haiti, where it killed more than 75 people.
The US government has forecast 14 to 18 tropical storms will form during the
six-month season that began on June 1, more than the historical average of
10. Josephine was already the 10th of the year, forming before the
statistical peak of the season on Sept. 10.
The record-busting 2005 season, which included deadly Hurricane Katrina, had
28 storms.
In Haiti, officials were still counting the scores of people killed by
Gustav when Hanna struck the impoverished nation on Monday night.
Authorities said Hanna caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 61
people across Haiti, including 22 in the low-lying port of Gonaives. The
death toll was expected to rise as floodwaters receded and rescuers reached
remote areas.
"We are in a really catastrophic situation," said Preval, who planned to
hold emergency talks with representatives of international donor countries
to appeal for aid.
"It is believed that compared to Jeanne, Hanna could cause even more
damage," he said, referring to a storm that sent floodwaters and mud
cascading into Gonaives and other parts of Haiti's north and northwest in
September 2004, killing more than 3,000 people.
Gonaives residents were still stranded on their rooftops two days after the
floodwaters rose and the government did not know the fate of those who had
been in hospitals and prisons.
"There are a lot of people on rooftops and there are prisoners that we
cannot guard," Preval said.
Hanna had hovered off Haiti's coast since Monday, drowning crops in a
desperately poor nation already struggling with food shortages. It also
triggered widespread flooding in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
The Miami-based hurricane center said it was too early to say where Ike
might go, after it churns through the Caribbean, but the storm has drawn the
attention of energy companies running the 4,000 offshore platforms in the
Gulf of Mexico that provide the United States with a quarter of its crude
oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
By late Wednesday, Josephine was swirling over the far eastern Atlantic
about 465 miles (745 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. It was moving west
but had begun to weaken, with top sustained winds dropping to 60 mph (95 kph).
(Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami; writing by Jane Sutton; editing
by Todd Eastham and Philip Barbara)
Story by Joseph Guyler Delva
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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