HAVANA — 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 killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean, could strengthen into a Category 3 storm before slamming into Texas or Mexico this weekend.
About 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.
The heavy rains soaked the buildings of Havana’s picturesque older areas, causing some of the more dilapidated structures to collapse.
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.
Many in the region, where most of Cuba’s famed tobacco is grown, were still without power and water after Hurricane Gustav struck as a Category 4 storm Aug. 30. That storm damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage but didn’t kill anyone because of massive evacuations.
State television said four people died as Ike moved across the island, including two men killed while 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.
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, evacuations could be needed.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lowell was off Mexico’s Pacific coast.
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