Hurricane IKE!!!!

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Ike made landfall on the north coast of eastern Cuba Sunday as a Category 3 storm that weather experts were calling a "major hurricane."

Obenson Etienne walks to his house Sunday in Providenciales, one of the isles in the Turks and Caicos.

The eye of the hurricane made landfall in the province of Holguin near Punto de Sama, with maximum winds near 125 mph.

Earlier Sunday, Ike hit Turks and Caicos Islands, leaving a trail of devastation. Rains and flooding from Ike also killed at least 73 people in Haiti.

"It pretty much looks like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone,' " said Audley Aftwood, a reporter for a radio station on Grand Turk Island. "It's like the end of the world."

Aftwood estimated at least 90 percent of homes he saw on the island were missing roofs and hundreds, if not thousands, of people had been made homeless.

"This is definitely similar to Katrina in New Orleans or worse," Aftwood said. "It's going to take years to bring this island back to the way it was."

The possibility of similar devastation prompted state and local officials in Florida and Louisiana to prepare for what may be the third major storm to affect the Gulf Coast in less than a month.

"Let's hope it's all a false alarm," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Sunday as he preemptively issued a state of emergency. His state is still recovering from Hurricane Gustav; more than 370,000 people there are still without power, nearly a week after Gustav made landfall, he said.

"There continues to be much uncertainty about the predicted track," he said of Ike.

On Sunday, President Bush declared a state of emergency in Florida. The hurricane's outer bands could start affecting the Florida Keys by Monday afternoon.

Evacuations began in the Lower Florida Keys and Key West at 8 a.m. Residents of the Upper Keys and mainland Monroe County began evacuating at 4 p.m.

Keys residents can evacuate their pets to a shelter at Florida International University as long as the pet is properly caged, Monroe County Emergency Management Director Irene Toner said in a statement.

About 15,000 tourists left the area Saturday as a hurricane watch was issued for the Florida Keys from Ocean Reef southward, Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson said.

"We understand the inconvenience to the residents, to the tourists, to the businesses," Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said. "But this one is just too close, folks. It's just too close to say, 'Bunker down and we'll be OK.' "

At 11 p.m. ET, Ike had sustained winds near 120 mph (195 kph), with higher gusts. It was located about 135 miles (100 km) west of Cabo Lucrecia, Cuba.

The storm was moving westward at about 13 mph (20 kph), and forecasters expect it continue on that track and turn west-northwest Monday.

Ike has raised fears about flooding, as rain from Tropical Storm Hanna saturated the ground when it struck last week, he said.

The hurricane's eye never touched Haiti. But the storm system did bring heavy rains and winds.

Jean Pierre Guiteau, executive director for the Red Cross in Haiti, said 52 people were killed when a river burst its banks in the mountain town of Cabaret --not far from the capital Port Au Prince.

He said those people died in their homes or as they tried to flee surging flood waters. Another 10 people were missing in the town and 22 people were injured.

Another 21 bodies -- presumably those of fishermen -- were pulled from the sea at Fort Liberte, Haiti, close to the border with the Dominican Republic.

"It's a very grim picture," Guiteau said. "Things certainly are getting no better."

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, at a news conference Saturday, urged residents to begin evacuating the Florida Keys Sunday morning.

"We continue to watch with much concern the track of Hurricane Ike," Crist said. "Ike has grown rapidly into a dangerous storm."

Miami-Dade County has not issued an evacuation order and has not opened shelters, Mayor Carlos Alvarez said Sunday, noting that plans are subject to change.

Credits to CNN

Hurricane Ike!!

KEY WEST, Fla. — Thousands of tourists cleared out of Key West on Sunday ahead of Hurricane Ike, which lashed the Caribbean and is forecast to take a swipe at the Keys on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. Traffic on the one highway from the island was steady but not jammed as most islanders waited to see whether Ike stays to their south.

Forecasts showed Ike crossing Cuba before hitting Key West on Tuesday. It is then forecast to
move into the Gulf of Mexico and make landfall late this week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it had ample food and medical supplies in the Gulf states, stocked before Hurricane Gustav, which hit last week. But FEMA was unsure whether it needed to shift supplies as forecasters could not predict where Ike might make its U.S. landfall.

"The federal government is pretty well positioned overall to assist the states if the storm directly impacts them or indirectly impacts them," said Bob Powers, FEMA's deputy assistant administrator for disaster operations.

Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said Ike was downgraded Sunday afternoon from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 3, on a 1-to-5 scale. Its sustained winds were 120 mph. It may strengthen once it hits the Gulf, forecasters said.

Atlantic Grocery Store manager Hafiqus Islam of Key West said he would wait to see if his strip mall closes before deciding whether to close.

"If they want to close the plaza, we have to close," Islam said, noting that shoppers were busy stocking up on cigarettes, bottled water and beer. About 15,000 tourists left Key West, and the Key West Airport was set to close Sunday night, said Mayor Morgan McPherson. But traffic was light on U.S. 1, the only highway north, said Irene Toner, emergency management director for Monroe County, Fla.

"That could be disconcerting because it could mean that most people decided to wait," Toner said. On Sunday, Ike struck the Turks and Caicos Islands, where the British territory's Premier Michael Misick said more than 80% of the homes were damaged.

"They got hit really, really bad," Misick said. "A lot of people have lost their houses."

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans evacuated to shelters or higher ground upon hearing predictions that Ike could strike Havana head-on. At least 48 people died as Ike's winds and rain swept Haiti earlier Sunday.

Contributing: The Associated Press