By Brian K. Sullivan and Tom Korosec
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ike plowed into Texas early today, driving the Gulf of Mexico's waters into Galveston Island, blowing out office-building windows and cutting power to at least 4.5 million customers in the Houston area.
The Category 2 storm flooded areas, shut oil refineries and prompted panicked calls from residents who didn't join the 1 million-strong exodus from its path. Winds blew pine trees sideways in Houston, the nation's fourth-biggest city, where electrical transformers sparked and residents waited out the hurricane in their homes under a citywide curfew.
``Virtually every customer who receives electricity on the overhead distribution network is without power,'' said Floyd LeBlanc, spokesman for Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. ``This was a really big hurricane; we looked at a wind field when it was on land of 250 miles.''
Houston's 75-story JPMorgan Chase Tower had windows on its west side smashed out, according to the CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston. The Enron Building and Crown Plaza Hotel were also damaged, the station reported. The city's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby airports remained closed.
Landfall in Galveston
Ike, which made landfall in Galveston at 2:10 a.m. local time today with winds near 110 miles per hour (177 kph) was the first storm to hit a major U.S. metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
With winds decreasing to about 80 mph, making it a Category 1 storm, Ike was moving north at about 16 mph near Trinity, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said in an 10 a.m. local time advisory. It is likely to remain a hurricane through the afternoon as it weakens on its inland path curving toward the northeast toward western Arkansas, the center said.
Anthony Melillo, his wife, two children and their dog spent the night at the Hotel Derek in the Galleria section of Houston listening to a howling wind and crashing debris.
Melillo said he boarded up his house and office in the Clear Lake section of Houston -- ``a potential storm surge area'' -- two days ago and then took his family, three days of clothes, food, water and important documents and left yesterday morning.
``This is a very rough and dangerous hurricane,'' Melillo said in an e-mail. ``Our house is in Clear Lake and I hope its still there without much damage.''
Flooding Reported
Around the region, flooding was reported. White Oak Bayou at Heights Boulevard in Houston rose 6 feet (1.8 meters) above flood stage to 38.45 feet at 6:45 a.m. Houston time, according to the National Weather Service. Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston was rising up to the edge of its banks.
The Coast Guard suspended rescue operations last night when the wind speed got too fast to fly, said Alan Haraf, Coast Guard petty officer first class. Up until that point, the Coast Guard and other agencies had rescued 103 people.
Since then, people have been calling to be rescued, particularly from the Bolivar Peninsula that juts out between Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Haraf said 65 helicopters were standing by to take to the air as soon as conditions improved. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tom Atkeson said when winds got below about 85 mph the helicopters could fly.
Refineries Shut
The storm has closed 19 percent of the refining capacity in the U.S. At least 13 refineries in Texas shut down including those operated by Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Gulf Coast refineries and ports are the source of half of the fuel and crude used in the eastern U.S.
About 1.2 million people evacuated the area surrounding Houston, Texas Governor Rick Perry told CNN. A dawn-to-dusk curfew was enforced in areas under mandatory evacuation orders to deter looting, Houston Mayor Bill White said at a press conference yesterday.
CenterPoint's LeBlanc said there are about 4.5 million people in the company's Houston service area and ``almost all of them are without power.'' Before the storm hit, CenterPoint estimated it could be weeks to restore power, LeBlanc said.
``We may have to revise that,'' he said. ``We have gotten literally thousands of calls from customers reporting downed power lines.''
Louisiana Flooding
In neighboring Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, home to three oil refineries, has widespread flooding, parish spokesman Tom Hoefer said by telephone. ConocoPhillips, Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Calcasieu Refining Co. have refineries in Calcasieu.
Ike may cause $8 billion to $18 billion in insured losses on land as it moves from coastal Galveston to Houston and further inland, according to Oakland, California-based Eqecat Inc., which predicts the effects of disasters. Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Ltd., the Bermuda-based insurer, predicted damage of $10 billion to $16 billion industrywide.
About 40 percent of Galveston's 57,400 people decided to stay and ride out the storm, Steve LeBlanc, the city manager, said in a televised press conference yesterday. The storm surge may be 3 feet higher than the city's 17-foot seawall, he said.
Houston's population is 2.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and its metropolitan area, with a population of 5.6 million, is the sixth largest in the U.S.
Ike left more than 70 people dead in Haiti and killed four in Cuba as it swept through the Caribbean earlier this week. CNN reported at least three people have been killed so far in Texas.
Before making landfall, Ike's winds covered an area larger than that of Katrina, said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at private forecaster Weather Underground Inc. Hurricane-force winds stretch across 240 miles, equivalent to the distance between New York to Washington.
President George W. Bush said this morning the federal government was ``prepared to move'' quickly to help Texas recover. He has already declared an emergency in Texas. As many as 7,500 Texas National Guard members are on standby.
To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Tom Korosec in Houston, via the New York newsroom at mschoifet@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 13, 2008 11:39 EDTSource: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aFEy_MY61M4o&refer=home