Barely had Hurricane Gustav passed over the tip of Cuba when Ike followed on crossing the island from east to west, finishing off Gustav’s devastation in some areas. Now Texas in battening down hatches as Ike gains strength across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The earlier hurricane failed to claim any lives in Cuba, but Ike killed 4 according to some reports. Damage is estimated in millions of dollars to the island.

“As it left Cuba, Hurricane Ike delivered a punishing blow to towns such as Los Palacios, which already suffered a direct hit from a Category-4 Hurricane Gustav on Aug. 30.
In a poor neighborhood along the train tracks, the combined fury of Ike and Gustav left nearly two-thirds of the wooden homes without roofs or completely leveled.
‘The first one left me something, but this one left me nothing,’ said Olga Atiaga, a 53-year-old housewife. Gustav obliterated her roof and some walls. Then Ike blew away a mattress and smashed the kitchen sink.
‘I don’t even have anything to sleep on,’ she said.”