Storm Ike's uncertain course hampers U.S. plans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The course of Hurricane Ike through the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico is unusually difficult to forecast and makes it hard to plan disaster relief efforts, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official said on Monday.

Glenn Cannon, FEMA assistant administrator for disaster operations, told a telephone news conference that the storm appeared headed for Houston, but upper-air currents and currents could alter its course.

The National Hurricane Center's forecast track places the storm near southeastern Texas on Saturday. But it could potentially strike anywhere from the Texas-Mexico border to Florida, Cannon said.

Ike's strength at landfall was also uncertain, he said. Normally, a storm's path is pretty clear within five days of landfall, he said. But Ike's forecasters will need another 24-48 hours to have a good idea of where it will strike along the Gulf Coast, making it hard to evacuate people in time.

"The real problem we're wrestling with today is the lack of definition related to the storm track, Cannon said. It's very difficult to plan an evacuation for such a large area and put the pieces in place that you need to be able to do that."

Ike's strength was also hard to predict, he said.

Ike lost strength as it raked Cuba late on Sunday and Monday, but it later moved over warm Caribbean water and was expected to regain strength in the Gulf.

Energy companies drilling in the Gulf were again evacuating platforms just being restarted after Hurricane Gustav, Cannon said. But they are trying to avert complete shutdowns and implement a scaled-back alternative that would allow for quicker restarts.

The electric transmission grid remained fragile with temporary fixes along the U.S. Gulf Coast after Gustav, he said. "While power is returning to a large part of the area that Gustav struck, this storm could set everything back to zero again if it strikes at a weakened location."

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen, Editing by Sandra Maler)