Havana/Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Hurricane Ike returned to Cuban territory Tuesday and was battering the western part of the island after earlier lashing the country's central and eastern areas, where four people died as a result of the storm.

Ike made landfall around 10:30 am (1500 GMT) in the extreme south- eastern part of the province of Pinar del Rio and was moving toward the west-northwest at around 20 kilometres per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami.

Ike was a category-one hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour and higher gusts.

The storm was expected to continue on its course and reach the southeastern Gulf of Mexico Tuesday afternoon, the centre said.

"Some weakening is likely as Ike crosses western Cuba during the next several hours, but restrengthening is expected once Ike moves into the Gulf of Mexico," the NHC warned.

Ike's second landfall in Cuba was on the southern coast of the island's westernmost province, Pinar del Rio, which was devastated just 10 days earlier by Hurricane Gustav, a category four storm with sustained winds of 220 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 340 kilometres per hour.

Cuban authorities expected the storm to leave Cuban territory around 1900-2000 GMT on Tuesday.

Jose Rubiera, head of the Forecast Centre in Cuba's Meteorology Institute (INSMET), called Ike "not even a shadow" of Gustav, but called upon the population to remain careful.

Four people have died from storm-related causes in Cuba, although such deaths are generally rarer in Cuba than in other Caribbean countries. The dead included two men electrocuted by a powerline and two people crushed by collapsed buildings. Officials said more deaths were possible.

Ike earlier left 72 dead in Haiti, bringing the poverty-stricken country's death toll to more than 300 from four tropical storms and hurricanes this season.

Ike was the first storm to cause deaths in Cuba since 2005, when Hurricane Dennis left 16 dead.

INSMET warned that Ike could cause very strong winds in eastern Pinar del Rio and the western part of the province of Havana.

More than 74,000 people had been evacuated from the capital Havana, as the authorities prepared for Ike, which they expected to be particularly dangerous on Tuesday afternoon, just before it leaves Cuba.

An abandoned building collapsed early Tuesday in the city's densely populated neighbourhood Centro Habana, damaging adjoining buildings. No one was injured or killed in the collapse because of the evacatuation, Cuban television reported.

Some 10,000 tourists had to be evacuated from Varadero, the main beach resort on the communist island, local media reported.

In total, over 1.5 million people were evacuated in Cuba because of the storm.

In eastern Cuba, Civil Defence officials were already beginning post-storm recuperation efforts.

Ike caused damage to thousands of homes and to the electric and communications infrastructure in Cuba, leaving fallen trees and flooding.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lowell had formed on the Pacific coast of Mexico with sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour and higher gusts.