CUBA HAMMERED BY HURRICANE IKE !

Hurricane Ike has been battering eastern Cuba with torrential rain and giant waves, leaving chaos in its wake.
Some homes on the coast, from where about 800,000 people have been evacuated, are damaged beyond repair.
Forecasters say Ike has moved out over warm Caribbean waters off Cuba's coast and may strengthen before hitting the west of the country late on Monday.
Earlier, Ike killed 61 people in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of homes on the main Turks and Caicos islands.

Hurricane Ike's projected path
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The Cuban Meteorology Institute said the eye of the hurricane came ashore near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin about 510 miles (823km) south-east of the capital, Havana.
The storm surge flooded streets in the eastern part of the island as it made landfall.
Although it weakened slightly to a Category Two storm, Ike was still packing maximum sustained winds near 160km/h (100mph).
The winds have torn the roofs off buildings, knocked down trees and destroyed coffee plantations and sugar cane fields.
Ike has moved out over water where it could strengthen before it makes a turn to the west-north-west later on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
It should then hit land again in western Cuba, heading in the direction of Havana, the NHC said.

With Hurricane Gustav striking just a week ago, Cuba's internationally acclaimed emergency services are being stretched to the limit, the BBC's Michael Voss reports from Havana.
Gustav caused serious damage to the western side of the island, damaging almost 100,000 homes.
"In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," Jose Rubiera, head of Cuba's meteorological service, told state TV.
Havana alert
Ike is forecast to reach Havana early on Tuesday.

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Havana prepares for the worst
Caribbean's devastating season

A direct hit on the densely populated city of two million people, with its precarious colonial buildings, could be devastating, our correspondent says.
The city has been put on alert as authorities prepared to evacuate residents from some of the crumbling, older buildings.
Among those evacuated from Cuba before the arrival of Ike were 15,000 tourists.
North of Cuba, in the Florida Keys, authorities called off an evacuation order as it appeared the storm would pass to the south.
But residents who had left the string of islands were urged to stay away until Wednesday until it was clear which way Ike was heading.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and warned coastal residents to be prepared to move inland for the second time in 10 days.
The NHC said it was still too early to tell which direction Ike would move in once it entered the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday night.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has endured the onslaught of four tropical storms in a three-week period.
Heavy rains and flooding sparked by the outer bands of Hurricane Ike killed at least 61 people in Cabaret, to the north of the capital Port-au-Prince.

RECENT MAJOR STORMS
Hurricane Ike: September
Tropical Storm Hanna: September
Hurricane Gustav: August, September
Tropical Storm Fay: August

In pictures: Hurricane Ike
Eyewitness: Waiting for Ike
Guide: How hurricanes form

"The whole village is flooded," said local civil protection official Moise Jean-Pierre. "The death toll could go higher."
The destruction in Haiti has been described as catastrophic.
Police said 500 people were confirmed dead from recent Tropical Storm Hanna while others were still missing and the number could rise.
The newly installed Prime Minister, Michele Pierre Louis, has launched a fresh appeal for international aid.
He called in particular for helicopters to bring those left stranded by the floods to safety.

BBC NEWS REPORT.