CLIMATE CHANGE
Hurricane Ike rakes Texas coast
September 13, 2008
Hurricane Ike has powered across the densely populated Texas coast and through Houston, bringing
ferocious winds and a wall of water that flooded hundreds of kilometres of coastline and paralysed
the fourth-largest United States city.
But officials making early assessments said the storm may not have been the potential catastrophe
that had been feared.
Ike, a massive hurricane that has idled more than a fifth of US oil production, came ashore at the
barrier island city of Galveston as a strong Category 2 storm with heavy rains and sustained 175
kilometres per hour winds, the National Hurricane Centre said.
There were unconfirmed reports of "a few deaths" from the hurricane, said Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff. He cited "significant surges" - high seas pushed ashore by such storms
- and damage in Texas and Louisiana.
"We have already heard some initial reports of a few deaths. Obviously one death is more than we
want to hear about," he told a news conference in Washington.
The Galveston and Houston ship channels were not hit as hard as expected.
"Fortunately the worst case scenario that was spoken about, that was projected in some areas did
not occur," Texas Governor Rick Perry told a briefing in Austin, Texas, monitored on local
television, although he said there had been "very heavy damage" to the power grid due to Ike.
The raging storm flooded Galveston and submerged a 17-foot (5-metre) sea wall built to protect the
city after a 1900 hurricane killed at least 8,000 people. More than half the city's 60,000 residents
fled, but the fate of those who stayed to ride out the storm remained unclear.
Chertoff refused to say whether he expected the death toll to rise. "I don't want to speculate,"
Chertoff said.
"If someone stayed in an area predicted to be largely flooded, they put their lives at risk."
More than half the city's 60,000 residents fled, but the fate of those who stayed to ride out the
storm remains unclear.
Oil refineries along the western shore of Galveston Bay as well as NASA's Johnson Space Centre
may have been spared the worst of the flooding.
But the storm's huge size means that it flooded parts of Louisiana, prompting a flurry of overnight
rescues far from its centre, authorities say.
Grandmother Sherry Gill spent the night in League City, Texas, roughly halfway between Galveston
and Houston, despite an evacuation order, huddling with her family and listening to the wind
howling over her shuttered home.
"It was a night of sheer terror. I thought the roof was going to lift off," Ms Gill said.
Emergency officials along the south-east Texas coast say they have been "inundated" with calls
from residents who tried to ride out the storm but now needed to be rescued.
Carman Apple, a spokeswoman for joint south-east Texas emergency operations, says one family in
Bridge City had to be plucked from their attic, where they huddled to escape rising waters.
Galveston officials say there have been no confirmed reports of casualties.
While Ike was formidable, it did not bring the six metre tidal surge they had feared.
President George W Bush declared that a major disaster existed in Texas and ordered federal aid to
supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the storm.
- Reuters
NOTE: Added by Web Master: As this is posted, some reports say upward of 6-8 million are without
power - at least 2,000,000 in Houston alone.
September 13, 2008
Hurricane Ike has powered across the densely populated Texas coast and through Houston, bringing
ferocious winds and a wall of water that flooded hundreds of kilometres of coastline and paralysed
the fourth-largest United States city.
But officials making early assessments said the storm may not have been the potential catastrophe
that had been feared.
Ike, a massive hurricane that has idled more than a fifth of US oil production, came ashore at the
barrier island city of Galveston as a strong Category 2 storm with heavy rains and sustained 175
kilometres per hour winds, the National Hurricane Centre said.
There were unconfirmed reports of "a few deaths" from the hurricane, said Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff. He cited "significant surges" - high seas pushed ashore by such storms
- and damage in Texas and Louisiana.
"We have already heard some initial reports of a few deaths. Obviously one death is more than we
want to hear about," he told a news conference in Washington.
The Galveston and Houston ship channels were not hit as hard as expected.
"Fortunately the worst case scenario that was spoken about, that was projected in some areas did
not occur," Texas Governor Rick Perry told a briefing in Austin, Texas, monitored on local
television, although he said there had been "very heavy damage" to the power grid due to Ike.
The raging storm flooded Galveston and submerged a 17-foot (5-metre) sea wall built to protect the
city after a 1900 hurricane killed at least 8,000 people. More than half the city's 60,000 residents
fled, but the fate of those who stayed to ride out the storm remained unclear.
Chertoff refused to say whether he expected the death toll to rise. "I don't want to speculate,"
Chertoff said.
"If someone stayed in an area predicted to be largely flooded, they put their lives at risk."
More than half the city's 60,000 residents fled, but the fate of those who stayed to ride out the
storm remains unclear.
Oil refineries along the western shore of Galveston Bay as well as NASA's Johnson Space Centre
may have been spared the worst of the flooding.
But the storm's huge size means that it flooded parts of Louisiana, prompting a flurry of overnight
rescues far from its centre, authorities say.
Grandmother Sherry Gill spent the night in League City, Texas, roughly halfway between Galveston
and Houston, despite an evacuation order, huddling with her family and listening to the wind
howling over her shuttered home.
"It was a night of sheer terror. I thought the roof was going to lift off," Ms Gill said.
Emergency officials along the south-east Texas coast say they have been "inundated" with calls
from residents who tried to ride out the storm but now needed to be rescued.
Carman Apple, a spokeswoman for joint south-east Texas emergency operations, says one family in
Bridge City had to be plucked from their attic, where they huddled to escape rising waters.
Galveston officials say there have been no confirmed reports of casualties.
While Ike was formidable, it did not bring the six metre tidal surge they had feared.
President George W Bush declared that a major disaster existed in Texas and ordered federal aid to
supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the storm.
- Reuters
NOTE: Added by Web Master: As this is posted, some reports say upward of 6-8 million are without
power - at least 2,000,000 in Houston alone.
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