Ike seen as severe hurricane in Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike is expected to enter the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico as a severe Category 4 storm, a U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency official said on Sunday.

"It looks like it will be a very severe storm," Bob Powers, FEMA deputy assistant administrator for disaster operations, told a telephone news conference on storm preparations.

Powers said the storm, which was near eastern Cuba at the second-highest Category 4 on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of storm intensity, would weaken if as forecast it crosses the island. It would then regain strength as it enters the warm Gulf. But he noted one storm model showed Ike going north of Cuba.

Florida officials were focusing emergency preparations on the Florida Keys island chain and the far southern part of the state, Powers said.

He urged residents and visitors to follow evacuation advice. "If it tracks toward Florida instead of heading over to Cuba, it will become too late to evacuate," he said.

A five-day National Hurricane Centre forecast for Ike shows a possibility that southern Louisiana, hit by Hurricane Gustav last week, could receive back-to-back strikes, although the Centre of the forecast track takes it south of the state.

"The storms can take a variety of courses and we'll be prepared for all of those," Powers said. He said the federal government was prepared to meet any state shortfalls in response capabilities. "We're pretty well positioned overall," he said.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen, editing by Vicki Allen)