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