KEY WEST, Fla. — “Extremely dangerous” Hurricane Ike grew to fierce Category 4 strength Saturday as it roared on an uncertain path that forced millions from the Caribbean to Florida, and Louisiana to Mexico, to nervously wonder where it would eventually strike.
Preparations stretched more than 1,000 miles as the massive storm with 135-mph sustained winds took a southwesterly shift that could send it over Cuba and the Florida Keys by Tuesday before heading into the warm, open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And once again, a possible target was New Orleans and the storm-weary U.S. Gulf Coast.
“These storms have a mind of their own,” Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said after a meeting with mayors and emergency officials. “There are no rules, so what we have to do is be prepared, be smart, vigilant and alert.”
First in Ike’s path was the low-lying British territory of Turks and Caicos, already pummeled for four days last week by Tropical Storm Hanna. At the airport in Providenciales, Patrick Munroe had hoped to catch a departing flight but was turned away, even before the airport shuttered.
“It looks really, really serious,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be devastating.”
In Haiti, authorities tried to move thousands of people into shelters ahead of Ike, while they still struggled to recover from Hanna.
Tens of millions of people in countries spread over a swath of the hurricane zone monitored the trajectory of a storm that had a huge footprint, with tropical-storm-force winds stretching up to 140 miles from its eye.
At 9 p.m. MDT, Ike’s center was near Grand Turk Island as the storm moved west-southwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Center meteorologist Colin McAdie said the core of Ike was expected to pass “near or over” the Turks and Caicos soon and begin to affect the southeastern Bahamas overnight.
“It’s a very dangerous storm,” McAdie told The Associated Press from Miami. He added all indications were that Ike would remain a powerful storm.
“There’s going to be some ups and downs, but we expect it to remain a major hurricane over the next couple days,” he said.
In Louisiana, still recovering from last week’s Hurricane Gustav, Gov. Bobby Jindal set up a task force to prepare for the possibility of a new round of havoc. “We’re not hoping for another strike, another storm, but we’re ready,” he said.
Even as Gustav evacuees headed home, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said officials were monitoring Ike’s projected path toward the Gulf.
“Our citizens are weary, and they’re tired and they have spent a lot of money evacuating . . . from Gustav,” he said. He added that if Ike were to threaten, “my expectations this time is, it will be very difficult to move the kind of numbers out of this city that we moved during Gustav.”
In Florida, batteries, water and gas cans became major commodities, as nearly the entire state appeared within the cone of areas that might be hit.
Jose Calbo planned to fly to Chicago on Saturday with his girlfriend, leaving his Miami-area home behind.
“Why be here without power and lights?” he asked. “There is nothing you can do. The best thing you can hope for is to board up the house, empty the freezer.”
