Ike grows to hurricane, Hanna seen doing same

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ike strengthened into a hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and Tropical Storm Hanna threatened to do the same as it swirled over the Bahamas toward the southeast U.S. Coast.

Hanna's torrential rains had already submerged parts of Haiti, stranding residents on rooftops and prompting President Rene Preval to warn of an "extraordinary catastrophe" to rival a storm that killed more than 3,000 people in the flood-prone Caribbean country four years ago.

Hanna was forecast to move over the central and northern Bahamas on Thursday, strengthening back into a hurricane before hitting the U.S. coast near the North Carolina-Virginia border on Saturday.

Ike had top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) as it swept across the open Atlantic 670 miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ike could strengthen into a "major" Category 3 hurricane with winds of 111 to 130 mph (178-209 kph) as it reaches the southern Bahamas and nears Cuba early next week.

Major hurricanes are those that are ranked from Category 3 to Category 5 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.

Tropical Storm Josephine also marched across the Atlantic on a westward course behind Ike but it had begun to weaken.

The burst of storm activity follows Hurricane Gustav, which slammed into Louisiana near New Orleans on Monday after a course that also took it through Haiti, where it killed more than 75 people.

The storms were troubling news for U.S. oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico and for the millions of people living in the Caribbean and on America's coasts.

The U.S. government has forecast 14 to 18 tropical storms will form during the six-month season that began on June 1, more than the historical average of 10. Josephine was already the 10th, forming before the statistical peak of the season on September 10.

The record-busting 2005 season, which included deadly Hurricane Katrina, had 28 storms.

'REALLY CATASTROPHIC'

In Haiti, officials were still counting the scores of people killed by Gustav when Hanna struck the impoverished nation on Monday night.

Authorities said Hanna caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 61 people across Haiti, including 22 in the low-lying port of Gonaives. The death toll was expected to rise as floodwaters receded and rescuers reached remote areas.

"We are in a really catastrophic situation," said Preval, who planned to hold emergency talks with representatives of international donor countries to appeal for aid.