Hurricane Ike weakened on Monday as it raged through Cuba, where it blew off roofs, toppled trees and flattened sugar cane fields like a giant lawn mower on a path toward the U.S. oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sunset Resorts, operators of Sunset Beach Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios and Sunset at the Palms in Negril, has made assessments of all three of the company’s North Coast Jamaica properties. Sunset Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios, sustained no damage.
Several cruise lines have altered itineraries for ships sailing in the Caribbean near the path of Hurricane Gustav or Tropical Storm Hanna. Carnival Cruise Lines said the Carnival Ecstasy, which departed Galveston on Aug. 28, will spend an extra two days at sea because the port is closed.
Tropical storm Hanna has been heading toward the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the U.S. southeast coast in a piecemeal, erratic movement. A hurricane warning remains in effect for the central Bahamas, southeastern Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Royal Caribbean International altered the itinerary of Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral, given Hurricane Gustav’s location and projected path. Hurricane Gustav made landfall Tuesday on Haiti with winds up to 90 mph and was expected to head toward Cuba, Jamaica and possibly the Cayman Islands.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) forecast for the six-month Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1, calls for 12 to 16 named storms, including six to nine hurricanes.