Islands Warned: Ike ‘Extremely Dangerous’

U.S. forecasters called Hurricane Ike “extremely dangerous” as it tracked toward the Southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

At 11 p.m. EDT Thursday, the storm was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 135 mph, about 475 miles north-northeast of the Leeward Islands and about 755 miles east-northeast of Grand Turk Island, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

The storm was moving toward the west at about 14 mph and a turn toward the west-southwest was expected Friday. Ike was expected to continue on that track Saturday and then move over the open waters of the west-central Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricane-force winds extended outward 35 miles from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extend up to 115 miles, the hurricane center said.