PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) - Hurricane Ike barreled toward the Turks and Caicos as a powerful Category 3 storm on Friday, prompting an exodus of tourists and even longtime residents from the normally idyllic Atlantic island chain.
People said they were eager to flee after Hanna pummeled the islands for four days as a much weaker storm earlier in the week, knocking down trees and light poles and flooding low-lying islands.
"I've been here 13 years and Hanna was the strongest thing we've had," Dierin Longmire said as she checked in at the airport. "It shook me up."
Longmire said she has been monitoring the storm's progress closely as it approached from the east in what seems like a direct line toward Turks and Caicos and the southern Bahamas. The Baltimore native decided to start her vacation to Asia earlier than usual.
"I have a feeling it's going to be bad," she said.
At 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT), Ike's eye was about 420 miles (675 kilometers) east of Grand Turk Island. It was moving west-southwest about 15 mph (24 kph) and had maximum sustained winds near 115 mph (185 kph). Forecasters said Ike could be near or over the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas late Saturday or early Sunday.
Leslie Foss, a personal trainer who has lived in Turks for eight years, originally planned to ride it out. But the man who built her house in Providenciales and a friend in the Canadian coast guard both encouraged her to get to the mainland. She was evacuating with her Great Dane, Max.
"When people who have experienced these things ... are leaving, it just makes you think," said the native of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Throughout Providenciales, nearly every business had covered its windows with plywood. Most hotels were closed and had ordered tourists out.
Jonathan Cohen, from Queens, New York, had already planned to return home Friday but others at the Club Med resort where he spent the week were forced to cut short their vacations.
After four days of "nothing but darkness, rain, storm and high winds," from Hanna, it was a good idea to leave, Cohen said.
"What we saw was pretty bad," the 35-year-old physician's assistant said. "So for it to be two, three times worse, well, it's time to get out of here."
Not everyone, however, was heading to the mainland. Many locals went about their business as usual — under mostly clear skies — and even a few tourists planned to stick it out. Many stores and the airport in Providenciales were expected to close on Saturday.
In the Bahamas, the government urged tourists to evacuate as Ike approaches the sparsely populated southeastern islands.
"We are strongly encouraging all of our visitors to voluntarily evacuate," said Vernice Walkine, director general of the Tourism Ministry.
Bennett and Joyce Varghese, of Clifton, New Jersey, were the only tourists on a nearly empty Boeing 737 arriving in Turks from Miami. They had been planning their trip for months and didn't want to cancel. Neither had been to Turks before or ever experienced a hurricane.
"Summer's ending and we wanted to get a trip in," Bennett Varghese said. "If we have to stay a few extra days that's fine."
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Associated Press writer Mike Melia contributed from Nassau, Bahamas. |