Hurricane Ike makes landfall on Cuba

Monday, September 8, 2008 

Ike on September 7, just East of Cuba.
Image: NASA.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ike has made landfall on Cuba, with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and above, making it a category three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. At 8:00 p.m. (eastern time) Ike was centered approximately 60 miles North of Guantanamo and made landfall around 11:00 p.m. in the town of Cabo Lucrecia. Millions of Cubans have evacuated cities along the shoreline and moved to higher grounds as meteorologists say Eastern Cuba has never seen a storm this big.

"These people have never seen a Category 4 - or a category 3," said Jose Rubiera a meteorologist on Cubavision. The NHC states that a storm surge of 9 to 12 feet is expected along the Eastern shores.

Ike is currently moving West at around 13 miles an hour, but the National Hurricane Center states that they expect Ike to turn to a more West-Northwest direction within the coming days.

So far, Ike has killed 58 people in Haiti, 13 of the victims were children.

Sources

• "Rain And Floods As Ike Hits Cuba" — Sky News, September 8, 2008
• Will Weissert. "Killer Ike hits Cuba after lashing Bahamas, Haiti" — News One, September 7, 2008
• "Hurricane Ike Intermediate Advisory Number 28" — National Hurricane Center, September 7, 2008; 11:00 p.m. (EDT)
• Frances Robles. "Cubans flee their homes as Hurricane Ike moves across the island" — The Olympian, September 7, 2008
• "Killer hurricane Ike blasts Bahamas, lashes Cuba" — CKWS-TV, September 7, 2008
• "Hurricane Ike Intermediate Advisory Number 27A" — National Hurricane Center, September 7, 2008; 8:00 p.m. (EDT)