PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Hurricane Gustav barreled into Haiti on Tuesday, toppling trees, dumping rain and sending global fuel prices soaring on fears the storm could become “extremely dangerous” when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
The hurricane roared ashore with top sustained winds near 90 mph about 40 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Hundreds of people in coastal Les Cayes ignored government warnings to seek shelter, instead throwing rocks to protest the high cost of living in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.
Oil prices shot up $5 a barrel Tuesday after the National Hurricane Center predicted Gustav could enter the gulf as a major hurricane this weekend. Prices of futures in natural gas, heating oil and gasoline also shot up.
U.S. gasoline prices could rise by 10 cents a gallon ahead of the Labor Day weekend if Gustav continues on this path, according to James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and .
. said Gustav could grow into a Category 5 storm if it passes through the Yucatan Channel and enters the gulf’s warmer-than-usual waters.
One man was killed in a landslide in the Haitian mountain town of Benet, civil protection director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste told Radio Metropole.
