Ike blasts Turks and Caicos as Category 4 storm

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hurricane Ike slammed into the Turks and Caicos on Saturday as a ferocious Category 4 storm, raking the low-lying island chain with shrieking winds as people hunkered down at home or in emergency shelters. As the massive gray wall of clouds descended on the islands, shopkeepers and homeowners in the city of Providenciales frantically covered windows with plywood and boats were hauled ashore or secured with multiple anchors. "I am very, very nervous," said John Moore, a fishing boat captain, as he tied down his 61-foot vessel in a Providenciales cove. "It looks like it might go right over us, so that's not a good picture." The outer-bands of the storm brought fierce, palm-bending winds and a scattering of rain. Still, people lingered in the darkened streets or outside a couple of convenience stores that stayed open for last-minute shoppers. People entered into a makeshift shelter in a vocational school in the Five Cays neighborhood. The US National Hurricane Center said Ike's eye was "near or over" the Turks and Caicos late Saturday night. The center's Web site showed hurricane force winds from Ike battering the island. It was moving west-southwest about 24 kph with winds near 215 kph. Its path would take it by the southeastern Bahamas early Sunday and near eastern Cuba Sunday night or early Monday.