Havana:Hurricane Ike raged across Cuba today with torrential rain and winds as Haiti struggled with a growing humanitarian crisis after four hurricanes in four weeks.

Cuba carried out mass evacuations of residents and tourists before Ike -- the second hurricane in less than a week after Gustav -- made landfall at Punta Lucrecia on the eastern coast and then weakened slightly.

More than 800,000 people were moved away from coastal areas eastern Cuba and more than 9,000 foreign tourists were moved out of the resort of Varadero.

"In all of Cuba s history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together," lamented the head of Cuba s meteorological service, Jose Rubiera, on state television.

At 1430 IST, the eye of storm was 65 kilometres southeast of Camaguey and moving west, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.

Still packing winds of near 165 kilometres an hour with higher gusts, the US National Hurrican Centre said Ike was a category two storm, down from a three on the five level Saffir-Simpson scale.

The centre said a further weakening was possible while it was over land.

"It s raining heavily here and power has been cut since early at night," Alvaro Cruz, a resident of the city of Holguin, told AFP in a telephone interview.

Ike plowed across the Turks and Caicos as a powerful Category Four storm late Saturday, causing injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven, before weakening.
Source : PTI