HMS Iron Duke and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Wave Ruler are expected to reach the island chain in the next couple of days, arriving on the tail of the Category 4 storm that was also threatening further disaster in parts of the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba last night.

Michael Misick, Turks and Caicos' prime minister, said his people had been "just holding on for life" as Ike's fearsome eye wall, where the winds are the most powerful, scored a bullseye on Grand Turk, home to 3,000 people. He said: "They got hit really, really bad."

Clive Evans, a worker with the British Red Cross on Providenciales Island, said: "When the wind hits, it's like the roars of lions."

It was the second hurricane to hit the islands in just six days; the government was still assessing the impact of Hanna, which struck last Monday, when Ike made its strike early yesterday morning. Authorities and relief agencies had just 24 hours to get disaster supplies in.

The National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, forecast Ike to start pummelling Cuba late last night after brushing past the northern coast of Haiti, where 650,000 people have already been left in crisis by the effects of tropical storms Fay and Hanna, and Hurricane Gustav.

Hedi Annabi, the UN envoy, described what he saw as "close to hell on earth" as he toured the north-western city of Gonaïves at the weekend.

Police in Gonaïves said that initial reports that 500 corpses had been found floating in the streets of the city were not true, though the confirmed death toll from the three previous storms was 252.

The British Red Cross and other agencies have launched emergency appeals to support operations throughout the affected region.

In Cuba, 250,000 residents and tourists were being evacuated from coastal areas. Holidaymakers were also ordered out of the Florida Keys, which could see heavy winds as the storm passes to the south.

After Cuba, Ike was expected to bounce into the Gulf of Mexico as a weakened Category One storm, but then strengthen again and head north-west.

Louisiana and New Orleans, which evacuated two million people just a week ago ahead of Hurricane Gustav, were keeping a close eye on its path, although the latest computer predictions from the NHC forecast it heading on a more westerly track, towards Texas.

BY NUMBERS

135mph - the top speed recorded by Ike as it bore down on Cuba yesterday afternoon.

10 people - were killed in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic by Hurricane Ike.

Category 4 - hurricanes like Ike can flood terrain more than ten feet above sea level, destroy mobile homes and blow down trees, shrubs and signs, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.