Storm surges flooded neighborhoods and wind blew off roofs as Hurricane Ike tore through eastern Cuba Monday, while forecasters feared the storm would strengthen as the eye of the hurricane skirted off land and touched warm waters.

Ike remained a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds while tropical storm winds are expected by Monday afternoon in central Cuba as the storm's outer bands cross almost the entire length of the island.

Models showed the storm bypassing Cuba's major northern cities and heading straight for western provinces that were already hit last week by Hurricane Gustav.

Cuba's Radio Reloj said 10,000 homes were damaged in Guantanamo, 300 of them totally destroyed. Initial reports also said there was ''severe'' damage but no loss of life in Santiago de Cuba. In Guantanamo, 200,000 banana trees were razed.

''In my whole life, I've never seen anything like this,'' Juan Carlos Figueira, 40, said in a telephone interview from Holguin. "There are many houses partially knocked down, trees are knocked down. There are many telephone lines on the ground. We haven't had electricity since yesterday and don't know when we will get it back, because many posts are down.''

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