Ivan, one of the strongest storms on record, hammered Grand Cayman with wind gusts up to 200 mph before reaching Cuba. The storm has killed at least 68 people across the Caribbean and threatens millions more in the United States.
The wall of Ivan's eye clipped the tip of Cuba at about 6:45 p.m. EDT as it moved through the Yucatan Channel on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, the island's top meteorologist reported. The slow-moving storm, carrying 160-mph winds, has U.S. residents from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana preparing to flee the Gulf Coast.
The hurricane hit Cuba hours after President Fidel Castro stopped to discuss preparations in Pinar del Rio city, where residents shouted ''Fidel! Fidel!''
Castro said he would not accept any hurricane aid from the United States. ''We won't accept a penny from them,'' the Cuban leader said.
''The hurricane before this they offered $50,000, an insignificant amount,'' he said referring to aid the U.S. government offered after Hurricane Charley. ''Even if they offered all that was necessary - $100 million, $200 million, we would not accept. We can recuperate on our own.''
As the hurricane's western edge drenched fields in Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, 20-foot-tall waves still were slamming the sea wall at the port in George Town, Grand Cayman, the wealthy British territory that is a popular scuba diving destination and offshore banking center.
In Cuba - despite Castro's bravado - residents said they feared for their lives.
As Ivan moved in, Cuban state television reported waves up to 15 feet crashing onto the southern coast of the Isla de Juventud southwest of the main island. Ham radio operators reported downed trees and power lines, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Ivan swirled toward cropland that produces Cuba's famed cigars, a region still recovering from the effects last month of Hurricane Charley. About 1.3 million Cubans were evacuated from particularly vulnerable areas. The tobacco crop - the country's third-largest export - was safe, according to top grower Alejandro Robaina.
The storm was also expected to deliver strong waves, rain and wind to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the southwest. The island of Cozumel shut its airport, halted the arrival of cruise ships and prohibited all maritime navigation. Visitors to Cancun were advised not to stray from their hotels.
Ivan was moving toward the north-northwest at 9 mph, with a more northwestward motion expected.
Although some forecasters predicted the storm would weaken today over the cooler waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast residents spent Monday boarding up their houses, tying up their boats and making plans to evacuate. Emergency officials in several Florida Panhandle counties were expected to decide Monday on evacuating fishing villages and beach communities.
At times along its wobbly path, forecasters had predicted Ivan could make direct hits on either the Florida Keys or populous South Florida, only to see it veer west of both areas.
Only three Category 5 storms are known to have hit the United States. The last was Hurricane Andrew, which hit South Florida in 1992, killing 43 people and causing more than $30 billion in damage.
