Cuba drops part of Ike warning

MIAMI, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Cuba Monday dropped a hurricane warning for several provinces but kept it posted for others as Ike moved toward the southern coast of Central Cuba.

Hurricane Ike shrank to Category 1 status, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday. The Cuban government discontinued hurricane warnings for Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holgun, Granma, Las Tunas and Camaguey provinces, but a hurricane warning was still posted for Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, La Habana, Ciudad de Habana, Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth, forecasters said.

At 8 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was just off Cuba's south central coast, about 35 miles south-southeast of Cienfuegos and about 165 miles east-southeast of Havana. Ike was producing to sustained winds of near 80 mph and was moving west-northwest at about 12 mph.

The storm was expected to continue in that motion for a day or two, and its center was expected to move along or just south of the Cuban coast Monday night, and then move over western Cuba Tuesday before entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night.

The hurricane watch for the Florida Keys was lifted but a tropical storm warning remained in effect. The government of the Bahamas had discontinued its tropical storm warning and a tropical storm watch was in place for the Grand Caymans.

Large swells generated by Ike were expected to affect parts of the southeastern U.S. coast for the next few days, possibly generating dangerous rip currents, the center reported.

Ike was expected to produce rainfall of 6-12 inches in Cuba, with up to 20 inches in isolated instances.

Tornadoes were possible in Florida's extreme southern peninsula and Keys until Tuesday, the center said. In addition, up to three inches of rain were possible over the Keys.

Ike was expected re-energize as it moves across the warm Gulf waters until making landfall somewhere in the central U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend.