Hurricane Ike Slams Into Populous Texas Coast
Date: 15-Sep-08
Country: US
Author: Chris Baltimore and Anna Driver
Ike, which has idled more than a fifth of US oil production, came ashore at the barrier island city of Galveston as a Category 2 storm at about 2:10 a.m. CDT (0710 GMT) with 110 mph (175 kph) winds. It was just 1 mile per hour shy of reaching Category 3 strength on the five-step intensity scale, the National Hurricane Center said.
Ike surprised Texans with its fury and size, roughly the size of Texas itself. It may be the worst storm to hit the state in nearly 50 years and is the biggest to hit an urban US area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
The storm drove a wall of water 20 feet (6 metres) high and sent huge waves crashing against a 17-foot (5-metre) sea wall built to protect the city after a hurricane in 1900 killed at least 8,000 people. Most of the 60,000 residents evacuated and there were no immediate reports of deaths in the area.
Some 50 miles (80 km) inland, the storm lashed downtown Houston's glass-covered skyscrapers and sent debris flying.
The hurricane also shut down 17 oil refineries, endangered a freighter at sea and destroyed a pier in Galveston.
The National Weather Service warned that people staying in their houses along the coast could be killed and officials said the storm could flood as many as 100,000 homes and send a huge wave across 100 miles (160 km) of US coastline.
"Our nation is facing what is by any means a potentially catastrophic hurricane," US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.
More than a million Texans heeded evacuation orders and headed inland, but officials said they were worried that many people had stayed in their homes.
As the storm surge swelled onto Galveston Island, most downtown buildings were surrounded by water. Some residents who had ignored a mandatory evacuation order called to be rescued. They received no response because emergency workers were called off the streets, officials told the Houston Chronicle.
Help was not expected until after the dangerous storm conditions subsided.
"We don't know what we're going to find tomorrow," Galveston Mayor Lynda Ann Thomas told the newspaper. "We hope we'll find that the people who didn't leave here are alive and well."
Forecasters warned Ike would send water surging up the Houston Ship Canal, the second-busiest US port, and that strong winds could seriously damage the Houston skyscrapers.
Ike also forced waters inland and up a network of bayous that weave through the city, threatening to flood neighborhoods.
MASSIVE POWER OUTAGE
Local authorities reported over 1 million customers were without electricity, including in Galveston and areas of Houston, and utilities warned of a massive power outage affecting millions of homes and businesses.
A dawn-to-dusk curfew was imposed in evacuated areas around Houston to prevent looting.
At least 12 house fires burned on Galveston Island, where chest-high floodwaters prevented fire crews from reaching the blazes, a Reuters eyewitness on the island said.
The Coast Guard had to rescue 65 people from rising waters on the the Bolivar Peninsula, east of Galveston.
US crude oil futures rose 31 cents on Friday to US$101.18 a barrel after dropping below US$100 for the first time since early April as concerns over US economic weakness outweighed storm disruption fears.
Ports were closed and the Coast Guard said a 584-foot (178-metre) freighter with 22 people aboard was stranded without power 90 miles (145 km) southeast of Galveston.
Houston airports were closed and hotels were jammed with those seeking shelter.
Ike could be the third-most destructive storm in US history behind Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Andrew in 1992, experts said.
The costliest storm in US history, Katrina, devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast, killing 1,500 people and causing at least US$81 billion in damage.
(Additional reporting by Eileen O'Grady, Erwin Seba and Bruce Nichols; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
