Ike Slams Turks and Caicos, CAT 4, Moves on to Haiti

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) - The Turks and Caicos premier says Hurricane Ike has damaged 80 percent of the homes on
Grand Turk island.
    Michael Misick tells The Associated Press by phone that Grand Turk took almost a direct hit and that hundreds of people have lost
their roofs. He says people are cowering in closets and under stairwells and are “just holding on for life. They got hit really, really bad,“ he says.
    There are no reports of deaths or injuries, but authorities are now trying to rescue people and get them into shelters.
    Ike is now raking Haiti and barreling toward the Bahamas and Cuba as a powerful Category 4 storm.
    Misick said Sunday that he will fly to Grand Turk once the weather subsides.
    A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Cayman Islands.
    A phased evacuation is planned for this morning for residents in the Florida Keys as Hurricane Ike gets ready to pass by.
    Forecasters say Ike could start affecting the Keys tomorrow night. Tourists have already been told to leave.  Florida Governor Charlie Crist
says there’s no need to take chances since “these storms have a mind of their own.“
    Ike’s current projected track takes it over Cuba and into the central Gulf of Mexico.
    New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says his city is also on alert. But he says he worries that if Ike threatens New Orleans, it’ll be
“very difficult to move the kind of numbers out of this city that we moved during Gustav.“