The Cuban government is blaming Hurricane Ike for the country's first four deaths of the 2008 hurricane season.

State television reports two men were killed removing an antenna before Ike's arrival. Another man died when a tree fell on his house and knocked down a wall, and a woman perished when the roof of her house collapsed.

Hurricane Ike is roaring down Cuba's spine toward the island's densely populated capital of fragile historic buildings, ravaging homes and forcing the evacuation of more than a million people.

U.S. residents from Florida to Texas are bracing for Ike's next wallop.