Caribbean islands assess damage from Hurricane Ike

— -- As a strengthening Hurricane Ike takes aim at the Texas Gulf Coast, the battered Turks and Caicos Islands are still assessing damage from the storm's passage last weekend and evacuated tourists are returning to the relatively unscathed Florida Keys.

Ike's torrential rains were blamed for at least 71 deaths in Haiti and caused widespread destruction across Cuba, where buildings crumbled in historic Havana and about 10,000 tourists were evacuated from seaside hotels.

On Sunday, it drenched the southern Bahamas and slammed into the Turks and Caicos, a British territory best known for scuba diving and exclusive resorts, as a Category 4 storm.

Officials say the hurricane's impact was lighter on the Turks and Caicos' main tourist island, Providenciales, where commercial air service resumed Tuesday and many hotels, including Club Med and others on 12-mile Grace Bay, have re-opened.

The all-inclusive Beaches Resort won't resume business until Nov. 15, due to cosmetic damage. And the super-exclusive Amanyara, where low-season rates top $1,000 a night, also remains closed. Many of the high-end resorts on Providenciales routinely close in September for maintenance and officials said most would re-open as scheduled in October.

On the administrative and political capital of Grand Turk, where Carnival Cruise Line's two-year-old, $60 million cruise ship terminal was among the more than 80% of island buildings damaged during the storm, Carnival said its facilities would remain closed until Oct. 8. The terminal expects to handle more than 200 cruise ship calls and an estimated 400,000 passengers this year.

According to The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, thousands of pink flamingos on the island of Great Inagua were unharmed when their breeding colony — the world's largest — took a direct hit from Ike. All the country's hotels and other tourist facilities are open.

In the Florida Keys, 15,000 tourists were asked to evacuate last week as Ike approached, and were allowed to return Thursday. Ike's tropical storm-force winds caused some erosion on Key West's Smathers and Higgs beaches and downed tree limbs, but no major damage was reported. Commercial flights and cruise ship calls resumed in Key West Thursday, and most hotels, restaurants and attractions are open as well.