Residents make their way through a flooded street in Camaguey, Cuba, after Hurricane Ike struck the island Monday. Ike roared across Cuba on Monday, causing the evacuation of some 1.2 million Cubans from its path, which forecasters said could take it to Louisiana or Texas later this week.

Hurricane Ike roared down Cuba’s spine Monday and toward the island’s densely populated capital of fragile historic buildings after ravaging homes, forcing 1.2 million people to evacuate and killing at least four. U.S. residents from Florida to Texas braced for Ike’s next wallop.

Ike, which raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti that have killed at least 312 people, made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean’s largest island.

It was a Category 1 storm Monday afternoon, but forecasters expected it to strengthen again before hitting Louisiana or Texas this weekend.

“This critter was angry, really angry,” Delia Oliveras, 64, said in the central city of Camaguey. Winds tore the roof from the living room where her family was huddled, and they fled to a covered patio. “We have seen hurricanes, but never as big as this.”

Residents in the Florida Keys breathed a sigh of relief Monday as Ike turned west on a path away from the low-lying island chain.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that, after passing into the Gulf of Mexico sometime tonight, Ike could make landfall in the U.S. over the weekend in Louisiana or Texas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry pre-declared disasters in 88 counties to aid storm preparation and put 7,500 National Guard members on standby.

In Louisiana, where thousands remain without power after Hurricane Gustav hit last week, Gov. Bobby Jindal urged residents to start stockpiling food, water, batteries and other supplies. The state also was readying shelters and making plans for trains, buses and planes in case a coastal evacuation is called later in the week.

Cuban state television reported that Ike killed four people there – the first storm deaths on the island in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Cuba, which has carried out well-executed evacuations over the years, ordered 1.2 million people to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters, state television reported. In Havana, where the hurricane was expected to unleash heavy winds and rain by this morning, evacuations began in earnest late Monday afternoon.

The government closed schools and government offices in the capital as people reinforced windows with wood, removed plants from balconies and formed long lines at bakeries. Along the seaside Malecon promenade where youths hang out at night, businesses were being shut down.

Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children. But in an authoritarian state, few people would think to ignore the government’s advice – and state news media make an example of the few who pay the ultimate price when they fail to evacuate.

Gustav tore across western Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30.