GALVESTON, TEXAS — Punishing winds and waves from massive Hurricane Ike smashed into this low-lying barrier island Friday, flooding roads and providing a preview of what authorities predicted would be catastrophic damage to Galveston -- and possibly Houston and other inland areas.
The storm, as big as Texas and packing winds of at least 110 mph, was expected to slam into the coast near Galveston early this morning. Before midnight Central time, hurricane-force wind gusts buffeted the island.
Forecasters predicted that the storm's "dirty side," with the heaviest storm surge and highest winds, would batter Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.
There were fears that Ike would knock out power for up to 5.2 million customers and cause extensive damage across southeast Texas before heading into central Arkansas. Even before the storm came ashore, about 850,000 customers -- or about 4.5 million people -- were without power in Houston, the Associated Press reported. And in Louisiana, Ike's storm surge breached levees, flooding more than 1,800 homes, the AP said.
Waves of roiling brown water from the Gulf of Mexico crashed against Galveston's 17-foot sea wall, clogging streets with debris. Fast-rising Galveston Bay flooded access roads along Interstate 45, which connects Galveston to the mainland. Water lapped against the front steps of some homes and left streets impassable
"This is probably the biggest storm to hit the Texas coast in my lifetime, and I'm not a young bird," Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 58, told KTRH radio. Perry predicted that Galveston and towns like Sabine Lake and Port Arthur would be left underwater.
The National Hurricane Center said Ike could strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 111 mph or higher, before making landfall. The center predicted a storm surge of 20 feet -- 25 feet in some areas -- and 5 to 10 inches of rain, if not more, in most areas.
About 600 miles across, Ike is one of the largest hurricanes in recent memory, taking up almost the entire northern half of the Gulf of Mexico.
By late afternoon, the hurricane center reported that water levels had risen 5 inches along the gulf's northwestern coast. AccuWeather described "a massive wall of water being pushed through the gulf" toward the Texas coast.
Levees breached in southeastern Louisiana near Houma, the AP reported. More than 160 people had to be rescued, and Gov. Bobby Jindal said he expected those numbers to grow.
