Ike wreaks havoc on Texas coast
By Chris Baltimore and Anna Driver
HOUSTON, Sept 13 - (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike barrelled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early on Saturday, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds and rain that flooded large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and paralyzed the fourth-largest U.S. city.
Ike, a massive hurricane that has idled more than a fifth of U.S. oil production, came ashore at the barrier island city of Galveston as a strong Category 2 storm at 2:10 a.m. CDT (8:10 a.m. British time) with sustained 110 mph (175 kph) winds, the National Hurricane Centre said.
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 its 60,000 residents had fled.
Grandmother Sherry Gill spent the night in League City, 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," Gill said.
Alicia Cahill, a spokeswoman for the city of Galveston, said there had been no confirmed reports or casualties.
About 50 miles (80 km) inland, Ike lashed downtown Houston's skyscrapers, blowing out windows and sending debris flying through water-logged streets.
Roofs were ripped off houses, and rising waters, downed trees and fallen power lines left many streets impassable. There were "many, many" windows broken in the 75-story Chase Tower, the tallest building in Houston.
Ike was the biggest storm to hit a U.S. city since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Ike was downgraded to a Category 1 on the hurricane intensity scale at 8 a.m. CDT (2 p.m. British time) carrying top sustained winds near 90 mph (145 kph) and moving north, but officials said it was too soon to assess the extent of the damage.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told reporters the winds had not been "extraordinarily high, certainly for a hurricane." The main concerns were the storm surge zone, the area affected by the wall of water pushed inland, and the fate of coastal residents.
HIGH WINDS CONTINUING
Hurricane force winds were expected to rip through Houston until around mid-day and tropical storm strength winds to continue for hours after that. Houston is home to 2.2 million people, and its metropolitan area has about 5.6 million.
The Centre of Ike was expected to move through eastern Texas into Arkansas on Saturday night. Forecasters warned residents of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan to prepare for extremely heavy rains during the weekend as Ike moved northeast.
"We expected a major storm and our expectations unfortunately came true," said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "The weather needs to clear up a little bit to see just what the devastation was."
In Galveston, emergency officials were sending patrols into the flooded streets to begin assessing damage.
"We do have reports of damage but we're just now to the point where it is safe for our units to get out and start making assessments," Galveston County Emergency Management operations manager Lee Lockwood said.
Twenty-two percent of U.S. fuel production capacity was down, as Ike shut 13 refineries and one remained closed due to Hurricane Gustav, which hit neighbouring Lousiana earlier this month. Energy experts said they expected some refineries would sustain damage from flooding, leaving them shut for several weeks.
Brad Penisson, a spokesman for the joint operations of southeast Texas emergency management agencies, said the area's refineries appeared to have escaped heavy flooding.
The storm cut power to most of Houston and Galveston, with 2 million customers -- or 4.5 million people - without electricity, said Floyd LeBlanc of CenterPoint Energy.
"This is a huge storm that is causing a lot of damage, not only in Texas, but also in parts of Louisiana," President George W. Bush said at the White House.
"The storm has yet to pass and I know there are people concerned about their lives. Some people didn't evacuate when asked," said Bush, a former governor of Texas.
He said the government would monitor gas prices to prevent extraordinary price increases because of Ike.
Gasoline prices across the United States rose more than 5 cents to $3.73 a gallon on average Saturday, according to the American Automobile Association's daily price survey of more than 100,000 service stations.
(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in League City; Eileen O'Grady, Erwin Seba and Bruce Nichols and Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Jessica Rinaldi in Galveston and Richard Valdmanis in New York; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)