(Photo: AP/Lynne Sladky)Plywood on a boarded up hotel reads 'Stay Awake Ike' in Key West, Fla. as preparations are under away for Hurricane Ike Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008. There is an evacuation order in effect for non-residents,
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Disaster relief groups with hands already full cleaning up after Hurricane Gustav are now keeping a wary eye on Ike – a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 135 mph that could strike the Florida Keys early this week.
The “extremely dangerous” hurricane, as labeled by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, struck the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean Sea late Saturday night, according to CNN. But by the time it hit, most tourists and residents had already left the British colonies for safety.
Meanwhile, Florida Keys Mayor Mario Di Gennaro ordered visitors of the sunny tourist magnet to leave Saturday ahead of the serious storm, while residents prepared to evacuate starting Sunday.
Hurricane Ike comes on the heels of Tropical Storm Hanna, which dumped heavy rain on the eastern U.S. coast Saturday, and Hurricane Gustav, which made landfall last Monday on the Gulf Coast and displaced 2 million people in southern Louisiana.
Disaster relief groups are currently on the ground serving evacuees affected by Gustav.
Thousands of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are operating feeding kitchens at 23 locations in five states as of Saturday. Overall, more than 252,000 meals have been served, 3,808 showers provided, and 52 children provided child care, according to the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.
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Also, the church-based relief effort announced that two people have professed the faith as a result of its hurricane response.
Likewise, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is planning to send volunteer teams into Baton Rouge to help clean up debris left behind by Gustav. And United Methodist churches are working with other faith-based groups and food banks to feed people in affected areas.
The Christian ministry Medical Assistance Programs (MAP), meanwhile, has driven its mobile medial units around hard-hit Louisiana to provide medicine and care for 2,000 people.
But as these relief groups actively sweep up after Gustav, they are bracing for yet another possible encounter with a powerful hurricane within the week.
Forecasters say Hurricane Ike is expected to move near the Bahamas Sunday morning and then towards eastern Cuba later Sunday and early Monday.
Although the storm’s path is unpredictable, Florida Gov Charlie Crist said it could be a serious threat by Tuesday.
"We continue to watch with much concern the track of Hurricane Ike," Crist said Saturday, according to CNN. "Ike has grown rapidly into a dangerous storm that continues to move ... toward Florida."
