Florida Keys residents weigh evacuation
28 minutes ago

With Hurricane Ike on an uncertain course toward the Gulf of Mexico, many residents on Florida's low-lying Key West islands have taken a wait-and-see approach to orders to evacuate ahead of the storm that has already killed at least 48 people in Haiti.

Forecasts show Ike crossing Cuba and skirting Key West by Tuesday on a trek to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, slowly strengthening on its way to a landfall late in the week somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and the Texas coast.

And once again, New Orleans -- still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Gustav -- is squarely in the crosshairs.

In Key West, evacuation orders have become mandatory for tourists and the approximately 25,000 residents alike, but traffic off the lone highway from the island has been steady rather than jammed.

Ike is a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds near 120mph, located about 75 miles north-east of Guantanamo, Cuba, and moving west at 13mph. It is forecast to track over Cuba, re-emerging over the island's western coast on Tuesday morning about 100 miles south of Key West as a Category 1.

Ike was a dangerous Category 4 hurricane packing 135mph winds earlier, but the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said it had weakened "a little" in recent hours.

Original article here