PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) -- Hurricane Gustav barreled into Haiti Tuesday, packing powerful winds and heavy rains that were likely to cause massive destruction throughout the desperately poor Caribbean nation. Gustav was also on a path to also strike Jamaica and Cuba, and possibly off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico later in the week -- a threat that led to a spike in the price of oil.

Gustav was a Category One hurricane, the lowest on the five-scale Saffir-Simpson scale, but still packing sustained winds of 150 kilometers (90 miles) per hour, with higher gusts, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in a statement.