Ike hits western Cuba, oil threat eases

Strong winds howled in the streets of Havana and thousands huddled in shelters as Hurricane Ike made its second Cuban landfall on Tuesday on a path that began to look less threatening for the heart of US oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Foliage and debris flew through the streets and the walls of a couple of buildings buckled in the capital as the weakened hurricane hit Cuba's south-western coast after a rampage through eastern provinces that toppled trees, destroyed homes and downed power lines.
"It sounds like Havana has been invaded by an army of ghosts," Havana resident Maria Valdez said. Ike's most likely track would take it to the US coast near the Texas-Mexico border by Saturday - a path that posed a diminished risk to the bulk of the 4,000 platforms that produce 25 percent of US oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
Oil futures dipped more than $2 to below $105 as Ike shifted course but energy companies continued preparations for the storm. BP Plc said it was shutting down all of its Gulf production as it evacuates workers from offshore platforms.
With sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km per hour), Ike was a Category 1 storm on the five-step hurricane intensity scale as it hit western Cuba. Its center was about 55 miles (88 km) south-west of Havana at 11 am EDT (1500 GMT) and moving west-north-west at 13 mph (20 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said. Cuban media said four people had died in the storm. Two men were electrocuted when they tried to take down an antenna that fell into a power line, a woman died when her house collapsed and a man was crushed when a tree toppled onto his home. Hurricane deaths are rare in Cuba, where the government conducts mass evacuations.
Ike made its second landfall in Cuba at Punta la Capitana in western Pinar del Rio province on Tuesday morning. It first hit Cuban shores on Sunday near Punta Lucrecia before crossing the island and emerging off the south coast on Monday.
Forecasters said torrential rain would hit Havana, which was bad news for the Cuban capital, where more than half the buildings and homes are rated in poor to bad condition. Thousands of residents waited it out in shelters and at the homes of friends and family. In Cuba, "some official sources" said Ike's damages could be between $3 billion and $4 billion, said Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs at a news briefing in Geneva.