WEATHER NEWS

• Ike lashes Cuba, weakens to Category 2 hurricane 9/8/2008, 5:16 a.m. CDT
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Ike's winds and massive storm surge ripped apart houses and toppled trees Monday as the deadly storm roared across Cuba toward Havana and its historic but decaying old buildings.

• Hurricane Ike weakens to Cat. 2 storm over Cuba 9/8/2008, 4:42 a.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Ike has weakened to Category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba.

• The Nation's Weather 9/8/2008, 4:37 a.m. CDT
(AP) — Showers in the Northern Plains were to begin moving into the Central Plains on Monday. Areas of stormy weather were expected in eastern Colorado and across the Central Plains. While most areas were to see showers, snow was possible in parts of Wyoming.

• Hurricane Ike weakens to Cat. 2 over Cuba 9/8/2008, 4:27 a.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Ike has weakened to Category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba.

• Hurricane Ike weakens to Cat. 2 over Cuba 9/8/2008, 4:20 a.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Ike has weakened to Category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba.

• Hurricane Ike weakens to Cat. 2 over Cuba 9/8/2008, 4:20 a.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Ike has weakened to Category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba.

• Indian flood victims to spend 6 months in camps 9/8/2008, 4:14 a.m. CDT
PATNA, India (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Indian flood refugees are likely to spend six months in state-run relief camps while authorities rebuild homes, roads and river embankments in the flood-ravaged north, officials said Monday.

• Flooding from Ike kills 58 in rain-soaked Haiti 9/8/2008, 2:01 a.m. CDT
CABARET, Haiti (AP) — Hurricane Ike's torrential rains swelled rivers across Haiti and sent floodwaters gushing into homes in the dead of night in one eastern town, killing at least 58 people.

• 6.5 quake shakes sea floor near Vanuatu 9/8/2008, 12:37 a.m. CDT
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A strong earthquake has rocked the sea floor off the coast of the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, but there are no immediate reports of injury or damage.

• Killer Hurricane Ike roars ashore in eastern Cuba 9/7/2008, 9:54 p.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center in Miami says powerful Hurricane Ike has roared ashore in eastern Cuba.

• Rice: Not wise to end Cuban economic embargo now 9/7/2008, 9:33 p.m. CDT
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The Bush administration said Sunday it sees no wisdom now in ending an economic embargo against Cuba, a longtime demand the Havana government renewed as a way to speed aid after Hurricane Gustav swamped the island.

• A look at death toll from Atlantic storms 9/7/2008, 9:02 p.m. CDT
(AP) — A look at deaths so far from the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season:

• Rice: Not wise to end Cuban economic embargo now 9/7/2008, 5:37 p.m. CDT
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The Bush administration said Sunday it sees no wisdom now in ending an economic embargo against Cuba, a longtime demand the Havana government renewed as a way to speed aid after Hurricane Gustav swamped the island.

• A look at death toll from Atlantic storms 9/7/2008, 5:36 p.m. CDT
(AP) — A look at deaths so far from the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season:

• Killer Ike blasts Bahamas, lashes Cuba 9/7/2008, 5:31 p.m. CDT
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Ike roared across low-lying islands and bore down on Cuba, destroying homes, sweeping away boats and bringing more rain to waterlogged communities in Haiti, where it killed 48 more people.

• Ike's floods add insult to Haiti's misery, kill 10 9/7/2008, 12:59 p.m. CDT
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haitians took to their roofs to escape rising floodwaters Sunday for the second time in a week as squalls from Hurricane Ike added insult to their misery, inundating homes and collapsing a bridge on the last open land route for aid to the desperate city.

• Season's hurricanes pummel dunes, mangle coasts 9/7/2008, 12:46 p.m. CDT
OVER LOUISIANA'S BARRIER ISLANDS (AP) — The King Air climbed into the sky over the cypress and black gum trees in the Pearl River delta at the Mississippi-Louisiana border, and left behind a swampland thrashed and washed over by Hurricane Gustav's storm surge.

• Season's hurricanes pummel dunes, mangle coasts 9/7/2008, 12:46 p.m. CDT
OVER LOUISIANA'S BARRIER ISLANDS (AP) — The King Air climbed into the sky over the cypress and black gum trees in the Pearl River delta at the Mississippi-Louisiana border, and left behind a swampland thrashed and washed over by Hurricane Gustav's storm surge.

• Season's hurricanes pummel dunes, mangle coasts 9/7/2008, 12:46 p.m. CDT
OVER LOUISIANA'S BARRIER ISLANDS (AP) — The King Air climbed into the sky over the cypress and black gum trees in the Pearl River delta at the Mississippi-Louisiana border, and left behind a swampland thrashed and washed over by Hurricane Gustav's storm surge.

• 50,000 villagers in flooded India refuse to leave 9/7/2008, 11:14 a.m. CDT
PATNA, India (AP) — At least 50,000 people in India have refused to abandon their homes in flood-ravaged northern Indian despite pleas by authorities to evacuate, an official said Sunday.

• Ike blasts Turks and Caicos, floods Haiti again 9/7/2008, 9:45 a.m. CDT
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) — Ike ripped off roofs, sank boats and blocked the road for aid to reach a flooded Haitian city on Sunday as it roared over the southern Bahamas as a ferocious Category 4 hurricane. The Florida Keys evacuated and Cuba prepared for a direct hit.

• Ike damages 80 percent of homes on Grand Turk 9/7/2008, 6:48 a.m. CDT
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) — The Turks and Caicos premier says Hurricane Ike has damaged 80 percent of the homes on Grand Turk island.

• The Nation's Weather 9/7/2008, 4:23 a.m. CDT
(AP) — Heavy rain and thunderstorms were forecast Sunday for northern New England as Tropical Storm Hanna heads toward Newfoundland and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Haitians flee Gonaives before Ike reaches island 9/7/2008, 3:25 a.m. CDT
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of people fled this waterlogged city Saturday for higher ground as powerful Hurricane Ike threatened to unleash heavy rain and compound a disaster caused by a previous storm. At the local jail, emaciated inmates waited for food to stave off starvation.

• Flood in China coal mine traps 23 people 9/7/2008, 12:03 a.m. CDT
BEIJING (AP) — Twenty-three people were trapped in a flooded coal mine in central China, authorities said Sunday.

• Hurricane Ike near Turks and Caicos; Cuba braces 9/6/2008, 10:04 p.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the large eye of an "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Ike is lurking "near or over" the Turks and Caicos islands as a fierce Category 4 storm.

• Hurricane Ike near Turks and Caicos; Cuba braces 9/6/2008, 10:04 p.m. CDT
MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the large eye of an "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Ike is lurking "near or over" the Turks and Caicos islands as a fierce Category 4 storm.

• Hanna dumps rain on mid-Atlantic, heads north 9/6/2008, 9:23 p.m. CDT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Hanna accelerated toward New England on Saturday after the storm's whipping winds and rain didn't linger long enough over the Southeast to cause much more than some isolated flooding and power outages.

• Growing Ike nears Turks and Caicos, south Bahamas 9/6/2008, 6:58 p.m. CDT
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) — Hurricane Ike loomed over this low-lying island chain Saturday as a dangerous Category 4 storm, prompting thousands of people to evacuate while those staying behind hunkered down and hoped for the best.

• Cuba declines US disaster assessment after Gustav 9/6/2008, 6:25 p.m. CDT
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba politely declined a U.S. offer to send a disaster assessment team to the island after Hurricane Gustav, saying Saturday it would rather Washington suspend restrictions on travel and the sale of food and other materials it needs to recover.