Hurricane closes in on Cuba as top winds reach 100mph

Published on Saturday 30 August 2008 11:55

HURRICANE Gustav strengthened into a Category 2 storm today as it churned across warm Caribbean waters towards western Cuba.

Forecasters at the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre said Gustav's top winds had reached near 100 mph as it passed about 50 miles northeast of Grand Cayman Island.

The storm, which killed up to 77 people in the Caribbean, was ploughing toward superheated waters south of Cuba where it could absorb enough energy to strengthen into a major hurricane before ripping through the heavy concentration of US oil and natural gas platforms off Louisiana.

While long-range storm forecasts are prone to errors, the US National Hurricane Centre said late last night that Gustav could be a "major" Category 4 storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity within 48 hours.

The storm's most likely track has it going ashore west of New Orleans on Tuesday morning.

US emergency officials are mindful of the devastation last time New Orleans was struck.

Energy companies evacuated offshore workers and shut production in preparation for the most serious storm since the devastating 2005 season.