Texas braces for Hurricane Ike
As the massive storm bears down on Galveston, officials issue urgent warnings that coastal residents must flee.
GALVESTON, TEXAS -- As Hurricane Ike roared through the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coastline this morning, authorities issued more urgent warnings to people in low-lying areas along the coast who have not heeded evacuation orders.
"You don't play with 6- to 20-foot walls of water coming at you," Houston Mayor Pro Tem Adrian Garcia said.
The eye of the sprawling storm, now a Category 2, is forecast to strike somewhere near Galveston late today or early Saturday, but its winds already are buffeting Texas and Louisiana.
Potential 50-foot waves and Ike's 105-mph winds stopped the Coast Guard from attempting a risky helicopter rescue today of 22 people aboard a 584-foot freighter that broke down in the path of the storm about 90 miles southeast of Galveston, Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry said. The ship was hauling petroleum coke used to fuel furnaces at steel plants.
"I'm deeply concerned about Hurricane Ike," President Bush said during a visit to Oklahoma today. He had been briefed on the storm by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and had spoken with Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
"I can't overemphasize the danger that is facing us," Perry said Thursday, adding that the hurricane was "going to do some substantial damage. It's going to knock out power, and it's going to cause massive flooding."
The National Weather Service warned residents living in smaller structures on Galveston Island that they would "face certain death" if they ignored an order to evacuate; most had complied, along with hundreds of thousands of fellow Texans in counties up and down the coastline.
Still, Judge Ed Emmett, the chief administrator for Harris County -- which includes Houston and 33 other towns -- said he was concerned that some residents of low-lying Galveston Island had not left.
"Yeah, I do mean to scare people," Harris said this morning when asked about his dire warnings that Galveston, population 57,000, will likely be submerged by Ike's tidal surge, which is predicted to be as high as 20 feet.
"If you're 8 feet above sea level and get a 20-foot surge, that means 12 feet of water going through your house," Emmett said. "The math is pretty simple. It's not a good situation."
The storm surge is likely to be topped by 8-foot waves, Emmett said, adding that the 17-foot sea wall protecting the city was likely to be overwhelmed.
