Ike bears down on Cuba again, Texas could be nextStory Highlights
NEW: Ike slams Cuba, expected to emerge in Gulf
Ike has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane
Waves as high as 50 feet batter parts of Cuba
At least 1,000 homes damaged or destroyed in Cuba
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Hurricane Ike skimmed along the southern coast of Cuba early Tuesday, battering the island nation with 80-mph winds, high surf and torrential rains, the National Hurricane Center said.
Fallen bricks crushed a van Monday in Camaguey, Cuba, as Hurricane Ike struck the island.
1 of 3 more photos » Later in the day, the storm will emerge into the Gulf of Mexico, where it is expected to gain strength and possibly become a major hurricane on its march to the west.
After leaving Cuba, Ike could make landfall along the central-to-southern Texas coast at the end of the week, forecasters said. But long-term forecasts of a hurricane's path are subject to change, and Ike could make landfall anywhere from northern Mexico to southern Louisiana.
The forecast path takes it well south of the Florida Keys, but the possibility of Ike hitting Louisiana was not welcome news for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
"It would be difficult to get people to move again for Ike after so many evacuated for Gustav," Nagin said Monday. "People are so weary and so financially tapped."
At 2 a.m. ET Tuesday, Ike's center was about 95 miles southeast of Havana and just south of the Zapata peninsula, the hurricane center said. Ike was downgraded to a Category 1 storm in an 11 p.m. advisory from Miami, Florida.
Monroe County, Florida, which includes the Florida Keys, said its mandatory evacuation order for residents expired at noon Monday. iReport.com: Fleeing the Keys as Ike nears
But officials advised the 18,000 residents who left not to return until Wednesday, when any tropical winds from Ike's outer bands would have passed and essential services would have been fully restored.
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas of Galveston, Texas, warned residents to stock up on nonperishable items including pet food and diapers and to prepare for going without electricity. Track the storm
She expects landfall Friday or Saturday in Galveston but said she has not ordered evacuation as of Monday night.
Ike has already punched Cuba, where organized evacuations appeared to save lives, with only four deaths reported from the storm, according to The Associated Press. The Cuban Civil Defense brought buses or trucks to take people to shelters.
Cuban state television reported that two people were killed when they tried to remove an antenna. One man died when a tree crashed into his home, and a woman died when her home's roof collapsed, the AP said.
Ike hit Haiti hard, killing more than 300 people, according to AP.
At least 73 people in Haiti were killed by rains and flooding from the outer bands of Hurricane Ike. Heavy rain from other recent hurricanes have caused flooding and landslides, and 167 deaths were reported after Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hannah.
Sunday night, waves as high as 50 feet crashed ashore in Baracoa, Cuba, southeast of where Ike made its Cuba landfall as a Category 3 storm. At least 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed as the sea surge moved into the city, witnesses said.
An estimated 900,000 people left their homes ahead of Ike's arrival and went inland or to higher ground. Some of the evacuees were already homeless after Hurricane Gustav pounded western Cuba last week.
Residents on the western half of the island scrambled to get necessities before the worst of the storm hit, CNN's Morgan Neill reported from Havana, where the winds were picking up and the water was becoming choppy Monday morning, sending growing waves over the city's historic seawall.
Coastal storm surge flooding of 4-7 feet above normal tide levels and rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches were possible in Cuba, the hurricane center said.
People in the capital were worried that Ike's heavy rain would bring flooding and landslides to that area, and damage some of its more fragile infrastructure.
"Some of the old, colonial construction in Havana loses chunks of concrete even in heavy rains," Neill reported.
Many evacuees went to schools or government buildings with stronger roofs. The Cuban government cut power to the eastern half of the island before Ike arrived and canceled all domestic flights.
At Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on Cuba's southeastern tip, the rain was dying down at mid-morning Monday, said Petty Officer Robert Lamb.
"I think we fared pretty well down here," he told CNN by telephone.
Some limbs were down and a few street signs had gotten knocked over, Lamb said, and assessment teams were combing the base to check for any further damage.
"We were prepared for worse than we received," he said.
In Varadero, a hugely popular tourist resort on Cuba's northern central coast, 9,000 tourists were evacuated ahead of Ike's arrival.
Officials predicted the storm -- coming on the heels of Gustav -- could have a devastating impact on the small country's economy.
Nickel mines and sugar plantations, as well as the tourist trade, will suffer from the heavy rain and wind.
Furious wind, rain and the sea surge from Hurricane Ike destroyed or damaged at least 90 percent of the homes this weekend on Grand Turk, the capital island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to journalist Audley Astwood.
"It pretty much looks like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone,'" Astwood said. "It's like the end of the world."
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal pre-emptively issued a state of emergency. More than 370,000 people remain without power in the state, nearly a week after Gustav made landfall, he said.
"Like I told you before Gustav, let's hope it's all a false alarm," he said. "There continues to be much uncertainty about [Ike's] predicted track."
