As Hurricane Ike blows itself out, weathermen are warning that at least two more hurricanes will strike before the season is out.

“We have seen some of the lowest pressure readings on record in the tropical Atlantic during August,” said forecasters at Colorado State University. “Water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic remain at above-average values. A combination of these two factors typically leads to an active September.”

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, together with tropical storms Fay and Hanna, have killed more than 360 people across the western Caribbean since August. In the lowlying Turks and Caicos islands, 80% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, the airport has been submerged and every boat on the island has been lost.

The Foreign Office has extended travel warnings for Cuba, advising against all but essential travel to Holguin and Pinar del Rio provinces, as well as Isla de la Juventud.

“We allowed passengers travelling to Cuba last week to cancel with a full refund,” said Virgin Holidays, adding that customers leaving from today will be travelling as planned. Kuoni said that most departures to Cuba up to Wednesday would be going ahead, although clients would be warned of “superficial damage around the resorts”.

Caribtours MD Paul Cleary, however, said that customers worried about travelling to storm-wrecked resorts would be offered the opportunity to change their trips. “It’s a policy that hurts us in the short term, but if someone really doesn’t want to go, we won’t quibble,” he said.

Popular islands such as Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua, all in the eastern Caribbean, are so far unscathed.

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