Fires broke out, including one that burned down a popular restaurant. Parts of the city were cut off by floodwaters, and trees and building insulation clogged storm drains.
In a neighborhood surrounding the University of Houston, residents milled along the sidewalks in a daze, soaked to the skin in bedraggled T-shirts and jeans. Some tried to drag heavy tree limbs out of the street, with little effect. Others wielded hand axes and chain saws.
A group of children played in the debris of a shattered strip mall, hopping over bubble-gum-colored piles of insulation and throwing peeled chunks of roofing like Frisbees.
At the Crestmont West Apartments, in Houston's Southside, scores of residents wandered forlornly, stepping over tree branches and twisted sections of roof. The winds blew so fiercely early Saturday morning that the roofs of at least half the structures in the neighborhood fell in or were peeled off completely.
Lydia Fletcher, 53, was left homeless after her roof collapsed at the height of the storm. She said she was in her apartment, searching for a flashlight, when "there was a rumbling, crashing sound that sounded like a war zone on the roof." Seconds later, the roof caved in.
"I screamed and ran outside," Fletcher said. "The only safe place I could think of to stay was my car."
With the city's water pressure low because of power failures, public health officials urged residents to boil tap water as a precaution or to drink bottled water.
Herminia Palacio, executive director of public health and environmental services for Harris County, whose staff had reported concern over children playing in floodwaters, warned parents of snakes and insects.
A curfew was imposed in downtown Houston and in all mandatory evacuation areas. Houston Mayor Bill White said there was no timetable yet for people to begin returning to their homes.
"These are towns without power. The phones don't work," the mayor said. "They've urged everyone to stay away until the areas are secured, and they aren't yet."
In Louisiana, Ike brought a strong storm surge and heavy flooding to areas that took a direct hit from Gustav two weeks ago.
"We have no reports of fatalities, but there has been extensive flooding in the south-central and western parts of the state," said Chris Macaluso, a spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration.
He said much of the city of Houma in Terrebonne Parish, west of New Orleans, was flooded. "Terrebonne was in the eye of Gustav, but Ike had a bigger storm surge and caused much more extensive flooding," Macaluso said.
State officials also described flooding in western parishes as worse than that of Hurricane Rita in 2005, which came ashore along the border of Texas and Louisiana.
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david.zucchino@latimes.com
p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com
Times staff writer David G. Savage in Washington contributed to this report.
