Deadly Hurricane Ivan Barrels Toward U.S. Coast After Slamming Cuba

Hurricane Ivan Tuesday barreled into the Gulf of Mexico toward the US coast after slamming western Cuba on a devastating rampage that killed more than 70 people across the Caribbean. Tens of thousands of people were told to evacuate their homes along some 800 kilometers (500 miles) of US coastline as the powerful storm threatened western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The ferocious storm was expected to land on Thursday morning along the northern US Gulf Coast, somewhere between New Orleans, Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Because of powerful winds reach 410 kilometers (260 miles) from the center of the hurricane, the landfall would affect a large swath of land. If the storm veers of its predicted track it could also hit parts of Florida, a southeastern US state that is still mopping up from the ravages wrought by hurricanes Charley and Frances over the past month. At 1800 GMT, Ivan's center was about 650 kilometers (405 miles) south-southeast of the Mississippi river. It lost some strength and was downgraded a notch after hitting the western tip of Cuba Monday, but was still packing ferocious winds of 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour, and could regain to category five strength, forecasters said.