McClatchy Washington Bureau

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KEY WEST — Hurricane Ike barreled into Cuba's eastern province of Holguín late Sunday, and as expected, the storm has weakened.

Ike, which once packed winds of up to 135 mph, is now a Category 2 storm with maximum winds of 105 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center's 5 a.m. advisory.

After wrecking havoc in the Turks and Caicos and Haiti, the storm will continue to lash Cuba Monday and Tuesday, possibly causing up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, flash floods and mudslides. It is then expected to make its way into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Florida Keys, which are under a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch, could feel the effects of Ike as soon as Monday evening. Up to three inches of rain and tropical storm-force winds are possible. Strong winds and rain bands will also skirt South Florida.

Authorities in the Keys worried that too many people ignored orders to leave before Ike comes too close for comfort.

''It looks like Cuba will break this cowboy of a storm, but it could change,'' Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson said, adding that he was ''begging'' residents to evacuate. "You'll be putting yourself in danger if you stay.''

The fourth storm in as many weeks to threaten the region did not seem to faze many in the Keys who decided to take their chances with Ike. That's because forecasters expected Ike to rake west through Cuba on Monday and emerge off the northern coast of Havana on Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane -- with the center brushing south and west of Key West.

Nevertheless, thunderstorms and 50 mph wind gusts could move over the Lower Keys from late Monday to early Wednesday.

''It's going to be a rough ride -- wet and windy -- but nothing we can't handle,'' said Larry Metcalf, who planned to ride out Ike with his wife, son, parrot, cat and Chihuahua aboard their 41-foot sailboat.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida, allowing federal money to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

Ike made landfall at 9:45 p.m. Sunday near Cuba's eastern city of Puerto Sama as a major Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds. Authorities raced to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including more than 225,000 from Camaguey province and 150,000 from Santiago de Cuba.

Ike was the second major hurricane to strike Cuba in eight days. Hurricane Gustav tore through the nation's western provinces last week -- a blow that retired leader Fidel Castro said continued to leave "emotional damage.''

''More than 625 miles of our territory are going to be affected, and some of them twice,'' Castro said in a statement read on the news. Government officials were warning people to stock up on food and other supplies to last them through hurricane season.

But despite the concern of Ike rumbling right through Havana by Tuesday, few in the capital city seemed overtly worried Sunday night. Children played with spinning tops and rode their bikes through the streets. Fishermen cast lines off the seawall as tourists relaxed at open-air cafes.

''Hopefully it won't come through here,'' said Yusenka, who was selling dolls and other trinkets out of her Old Havana home. ``We'll see.''

Forecasters said Ike is expected to pass through central Cuba Monday. It's predicted 36-hour trek through the island and its mountainous terrain will weaken the storm, but authorities braced for significant damage in the eastern provinces, where major hurricane strikes are uncommon.

''These people have never seen a Category 4 or a Category 3,'' Cuban meteorologist José Rubiera said on state television.

Added Holguín resident Rosa Rodríguez: "We've had storms before, but never like this one.''

At least half the houses in Holguín were not built to withstand wind storms. More than 200 homes had already been destroyed by late Sunday in the eastern city of Baracoa, authorities said.

''History has proven that many of our installations do not resist these storms,'' Education Minister José Ramón Machado Ventura said.

Ike's projected path after it exits Cuba will take it into the warm Gulf of Mexico, where forecasters said it could restrengthen into a major hurricane. It could make landfall somewhere along the Texas or Louisiana coasts by the end of the week, depending on where steering currents push it.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said so-called ''hurricane fatigue'' should not prevent people from fleeing for safety for the second time in 10 days, if Ike continues to head that way.

''We are likely going to have to become accustomed to evacuating more frequently than when we were younger,'' Jindal said.

On its path to Cuba Sunday, Ike wrought widespread damage to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeast Bahamas and the northern coast of Haiti, which has been nearly sunk by consecutive hits from Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike.

In the Haitian town of Cabaret, floods from raging rivers killed dozens of people Sunday -- many of them children -- as families tried to flee from the rising water. More than 300 have been killed in the recent onslaught of storms.

Phone lines were down and roads flooded across Hispaniola, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, making it difficult to gather official damage assessments. As many as 80 percent of homes in Grand Turk were damaged or destroyed, a government spokesman said.

Winston Quelch, 32, of Providenciales, spent hours on the phone with his mother, who hid in a closet after Ike ripped the roof off her home.

''I heard her screaming and crying,'' Quelch said. "I told her not to worry about the house, that her life was more important.''

Quelch said Floridians should prepare for Ike, which he called ``nothing to play with.''

Among the Monroe County evacuees: About 70 sick and elderly residents of the Key West Convalescent Center who were taken by bus and ambulance to a center in Sunrise.

''Why should I be nervous, because of a hurricane?'' said Edward Koen, 87, adding he'd rather stay put that be bussed two counties north. "My gosh. I've been living here all my life.''