Experts warn that Ike is "an extremely dangerous hurricane" as it batters the Caribbean with winds of 135mph.

    An "extremely dangerous" hurricane has been battering the Caribbean today, hampering relief efforts to reach hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti hit by last week's storms.

    Hurricane Ike, with winds of up 135mph, lashed the islands of Turks and Caicos today on its way to Cuba, where it was forecast to make landfall tonight, possibly with even stronger winds.

    It was forecast to dump up to 12 inches (30cm) of rain over the next day. Ike could strike the US later in the week.

    It follows last week's hurricane Gustav and the recent tropical storm Hanna.

    The US National Hurricane Centre warned today that Ike was "an extremely dangerous hurricane" that was likely to cause "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".

    Colin McAdie, one of its meteorologists, said: "We expect it to remain a major hurricane over the next couple days."

    In Haiti, authorities tried to move thousands of people into shelters to protect them from Ike, while still struggling to recover from tropical storm Hanna, which officials said had killed 167 people in the country. Rescue workers feared the death toll could rise into the hundreds in the flooded city of Gonaives if Ike dumped more rain from outer storm bands.

    Aid groups had yet to reach thousands left hungry by Hanna.

    The UN children's charity Unicef said 650,000 Haitians had been affected by flooding caused by Hanna, and Ike would hamper the aid effort.

    More than 10,000 people had left the western port of Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest city, to head for the next town about 45 miles to the south, said Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of Food for the Poor.

    "The exodus out of Gonaives is massive," said Rouzier.

    Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of the Haitian civil protection department, said 167 deaths had been confirmed, including 119 in and around Gonaives. The skies finally cleared yesterday, allowing UN and US helicopters to land.

    Max Cocsi, who directs Belgium's mission in Haiti of Doctors Without Borders, said that it would not take much rain to compound the disaster, because the soil was already saturated and rivers were overflowing from three tropical storms in less than three weeks. The two earlier storms - Fay and Gustav - killed at least 96 more Haitians.

    "We don't need a hurricane - a storm would be enough," he said. Rescue convoys have been blocked for days by floodwaters, collapsed bridges and washed-out roads. A US plane from Miami delivered enough relief supplies for 20,000 people to the capital on Thursday, much of which was brought to Gonaives by a US Coast Guard ship and by air.

    The shipments, including health kits, plastic sheeting and water jugs, will be followed by more aid as soon as officials find ways of delivering the aid. The tropical storms have compounded Haiti's misery. The western hemisphere's poorest country was already suffering from rising prices and government disorder following April food riots which forced out the prime minister.

    Flooded roads, broken piers and mass mobile phone outages have impeded aid efforts. The container ship Trois Rivieres, chartered by the WFP, arrived at a remote private port outside Gonaives. It was guarded by Argentine peacekeepers with assault rifles.

    Within hours, the UN began distributing high-energy biscuits and water to emergency shelters where at least 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate. Workers delivered aid to some 2,000 people in two shelters before operations were suspended at dusk, as it was considered too dangerous to work in the city after dark.

    At an empty warehouse in the northern section of the city where floodwaters have receded, about 1,000 hungry and thirsty Haitians, some carrying children, pushed and shoved as officials in orange T-shirts tried to get them to queue up. Armed peacekeepers stood by.

    Anna Achelis, whose house was completely submerged, emerged from the melee holding one of her identical three-year-old twin girls along with two bottles of water, five vitamin-enriched biscuits and a box of toiletries. She said she hoped the biscuits would stave off hunger for her five children.