Texans get ready as Hurricane Ike heads their wayStory Highlights
Special-needs people in Galveston area ordered to move to safety
Some high school football games rescheduled
Forecasters say Ike is likely to make landfall around Port O'Connor, Texas
U.S. lifts humanitarian restrictions on Cuba for 90 days
(CNN) -- Residents along part of the Texas Gulf Coast have been told to leave Wednesday morning after Hurricane Ike left Cuba and began to gain strength in the warm Gulf of Mexico.
Melanie Ortiz stocks up on water and other essentials Tuesday in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Officials in the Galveston area's Brazoria County ordered mandatory evacuation for one ZIP code and for people with special needs, beginning at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET), CNN affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston reported.
Perhaps more important to many in Texas, dozens of high school football games in cities and towns along the coast were rescheduled from Friday to Thursday night to avoid playing in the storm, CNN affiliate KGBT-TV reported.
The National Hurricane Center indicated Ike likely would come ashore along the Texas coast between Galveston and Brownsville as a major hurricane. But forecasters stressed the unpredictability of the storm, which could change course at the last minute. Track the storm »
"It's very frustrating for all of us," said Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas. "We're on alert, and we will continue to monitor this storm. I wish we could be clearer about where it's going."
Ike's center left western Cuba on Tuesday afternoon, having hit it with 75-mph winds, high surf and torrential rains in its second Cuban landfall in three days, the hurricane center said.
At 8 a.m. ET Wednesday, Ike, with 85-mph winds, was in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico about 145 miles north of the western tip of Cuba and 435 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the center. The wind speed of the storm increased by 10 mph overnight.
Forecasters said Ike is likely to make landfall around Port O'Connor, Texas, late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 111 mph to 130 mph.
Tropical storm-force winds extended to the Florida Keys, though a storm warning for Key West was dropped Wednesday morning. iReport.com: Big waves hit Florida Keys
Thomas warned residents to stock up on nonperishable items, including pet food and diapers, and to prepare for going without electricity.
Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc issued a warning to residents of the city's West End, citing forecasters' estimates that the area could get tides of 6 feet above normal if the storm arrives there. The West End is the area of Galveston most susceptible to flooding, LeBlanc said.
Thomas said she could call for voluntary evacuations of the West End by Wednesday morning, depending on forecasts.
By Tuesday night, officials in Corpus Christi, Texas, had called for the evacuations of special-needs residents beginning Wednesday morning. They also called for the relocation of high-profile vehicles -- including vans, motor homes, travel trailers and hitched boats -- that could hinder traffic if expanded evacuations become necessary.
The Texas Department of Transportation said it expected to open a shoulder of northbound Interstate 37 to traffic -- from coastal Corpus Christi to U.S. 281 roughly 80 miles inland -- on Wednesday morning to help people trying to leave the city.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry put 7,500 National Guard members on standby Tuesday, his office said. Watch where Ike may be headed along the U.S. coast »
In Cuba, evacuations appeared to have saved lives. Four deaths were reported from the storm, according to the Cuban government. The Cuban Civil Defense brought buses or trucks to take people to shelters. See the damage from the storm »
Cuban state television reported that two people were killed when they tried to remove an antenna, The Associated Press said. One man died when a tree crashed into his home, and a woman died when her home's roof collapsed, according to the AP.
The storm shredded hundreds of homes and caused some dilapidated buildings in Havana's older areas to collapse, the AP reported.
Teresa Tejeda, who is in her 70s, told the AP she joined several hundred other elderly people at a government shelter because she was too scared to stay in her old apartment building.
"My house has really bad walls, and I feel much more secure here," Tejeda said. Watch as winds and waves pound Cuba »
The United States, which provided $100,000 in emergency aid to communist-run Cuba through private aid agencies after Hurricane Gustav hit the island August 30, said Tuesday that it was considering additional emergency aid for Cuba because of Ike.
Also, the United States said it will lift restrictions on cash and humanitarian assistance sent to Cuba for the next 90 days. That will allow nongovernmental organizations to provide assistance and cash donations. Watch what Ike did to Cuba »
Flooding and rains from Ike's outer bands have been blamed for 70 deaths in Haiti, bringing that country's death toll from four recent major storms -- including Fay, Gustav and Hanna -- to 341, said Abel Nazaire, deputy head of Haiti's Civil Protection Service.
