Cuban President Fidel Castro (below) is briefed on Hurricane Ivan by Cuban Metereological Institute chief Jose Rubiera. Hurricane Ivan roared towards Cuba after leaving 46 dead in its wake across the Caribbean. Photo by AFP
Packing ferocious winds and whipping up monstrous waves, Hurricane Ivan's eye brushed Cuba's sparsely populated western tip as a treacherous Category 5 storm - the most powerful - and barreled north toward the US Gulf Coast. 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.