Hanna Takes Aim at Bahamas, Ike Next in Line
Tropical Storm Hanna skirts Bahamas; Hurricane Ike following behind as Category 4 storm
Tropical Storm Hanna roared along the edge of the Bahamas on Thursday ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 61 dead in Haiti.
Hurricane Ike, a still-more-dangerous Category 4 storm, was advancing from the east.
Hanna was forecast to pass east of the Atlantic archipelago late Thursday before reaching the coast of North or South Carolina by Saturday, but the National Hurricane Center said Hanna's sprawling bands of outer winds are likely to hit the U.S. far sooner. Tropical storm force winds extended outward as far as 315 miles (510 kilometers) from the center.
Haitian authorities blamed Hanna for 61 deaths, most due to flooding.
Civil Protection Department spokesman Abel Nazaire said 21 of the deaths were in the northern city of Gonaives, which has been almost entirely cut off by floodwaters.
The storm also was blamed for two deaths in Puerto Rico.
Hanna's heart was about 75 miles (125 kilometers) east-southeast of Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas Thursday evening — and about 580 miles (940 kilometers) south-southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was moving toward the northwest near 14 mph (22 kph).
Its maximum sustained winds were 65 mph (100 kph), but forecasters said it could become a hurricane before hitting the U.S.
A hurricane watch was issued for Edisto Beach, South Carolina, north to the Outer Banks of North Carolina near the Virginia border. Forecasters said Hanna could bring high winds and rain from South Carolina to Maine.
The governors of Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency and officials urged residents to head inland Thursday as Hanna approached. Some residents shuttered houses and stocked up on food and sandbags.
In South Carolina, Gov. Mark Sanford urged people to leave flood-prone areas and mobile homes in two northern counties by Friday afternoon.
In the Bahamas, Hanna snapped telephone lines in the eastern island of San Salvador as it brushed past, said Quincy Poitier, who answered the phone at the Riding Rock Inn Resort And Marina, but there were no reports of injuries.
