Hurricane Ike weakened on Saturday but still menaced Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico as a potentially ferocious storm while Tropical Storm Hanna drenched the U.S. Atlantic coast after barrelling ashore in the Carolinas.

The densely populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in south Florida was not out of the line of fire from Ike, a Category 2 hurricane, and visitors were ordered to flee the vulnerable Florida Keys island chain from Saturday.

"We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Computer models indicated Ike was increasingly likely to target Cuba as a "major" Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, presenting a severe threat to the crumbling colonial buildings of Havana.

The storm might then curve into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of this week's Hurricane Gustav, ploughing toward an area that produces a quarter of domestic U.S. oil, and slamming ashore near New Orleans, which was swamped and traumatized by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

The deeper Ike goes into Cuba, the weaker it will be once it re-emerges over the Gulf of Mexico early next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said.

"By day four, Ike is forecast to emerge back over open waters in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico," the Miami-based agency said. "Global models suggest the environment will be favourable for strengthening and the ocean should be plenty warm."

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