Ike seen as severe hurricane in Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hurricane Ike is expected to enter the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico as a severe Category 4 storm, a U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency official said on Sunday.

“It looks like it will be a very severe storm,” Bob Powers, FEMA deputy assistant administrator for disaster operations, told a telephone news conference on storm preparations.


Powers said the storm, which was near eastern Cuba at the second-highest Category 4 on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of storm intensity, would weaken if as forecast it crosses the island. It would then regain strength as it enters the warm Gulf. But he noted one storm model showed Ike going north of Cuba.

Reuters