Hurricane Ike is headed to Texas after destroying parts of Cuba, Haiti and the Caribbean on Tuesday.
Hurricane Ike left 170 people dead in Cuba and Haiti before moving on its course from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. According to its projected path, Ike is expected to hit Texas in the next few days.
Ike's eye was 145 miles north of the western tip of Cuba and moving northwest at eight miles per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Ike's winds strengthened to 85 mph from 80 mph earlier Wednesday. The hurricane hit eastern Cuba as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of between 111 and 130 mph. The storm left Cuba as a Category 1.
Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration along the coast in preparation for Ike. 7,500 National Guard members are on standby for rapid deployment and 1,350 buses are available for evacuations.
Corpus Christi, TX is monitoring the storm and is making preparations for an emergency plan. The last time Corpus Christi had an emergency evacuation was in 2005 when Hurricane Rita hit the Texas city.
Over 600 people have died in Haiti after Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and two other tropical storms hit or passed by the country over the past month. Ike killed 172 in Haiti, leaving Gonaives, which was left with 102 dead, still flooded.
Tropical Storm Josephine remains across the Atlantic Ocean near Africa and will not be even be considered a bother to the U.S. until next week.
Hurricane Hanna, Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine all formed from strong thunderstorms off the western coast of Africa. All three storms began just after Gustav started to wreak havoc in the Caribbean and subsequently in Louisiana and Texas.
The next tropical storm in the Atlantic will be named Kyle, according to the 2008 Hurricane Names list for the Atlantic Ocean. Fortunately, that storm has not formed yet.
To see the full 2008 Hurricane Names list, please look below:
Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
Ike
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
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