Miami.– Hurricane Ike was downgraded to a category three storm in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday but remained a serious potential threat to the Caribbean and the United States, the US National Hurricane Center said.

With sustained winds of 205 kilometers (125 miles) per hour, the hurricane over the western Atlantic was now a category three on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale instead of a category four, but the center said Ike remained dangerous and was "still forecast to be a major hurricane in a couple of days.

"As of 0900 GMT, the eye of the hurricane was about 1,065 kilometers (660 miles) northeast of Grand Turk Island and was moving west at about 24 kilometers (15 miles) per hour, the NHC said.