Hurricane Ike Threatens 'massive Flooding' on Texan Coast

Texas was today bracing itself for "massive flooding" as hurricane Ike closed in on the state's coast, threatening to send a wall of water crashing toward its largest city, Houston.

Almost a million people along the Texan coast have been ordered to evacuate their homes before the powerful category three hurricane strikes the heart of the US refining industry later today or early tomorrow morning.

But the authorities have ordered most people in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the US, to stay put, in an attempt to avoid total gridlock on the roads.

As cars and trucks streamed inland yesterday, waves were already crashing over the beach on one end of Galveston Island, which is about 50 miles (80km) south-east of Houston.

The National Weather Service warned residents along a Gulf-facing stretch of the island and the neighboring Bolivar peninsula that they would "face certain death" if they ignored the mandatory evacuation order. People in one- or two-story homes were most at risk, according to the local weather forecast office.

Texas is home to the United States' biggest oil refinery and Nasa's Johnson Space Center, which both lie in areas vulnerable to wind and floodwaters.

Weather forecasters warned that Ike, which was expected to strike land with winds of up to 130mph (210kph), is so large that it could inflict a punishing blow even to those areas that escape a direct hit.

They said that due to the shallow coastal waters off Texas, the hurricane could produce a surge, or wall of water, 20-feet (6m) high, and waves of perhaps 50 feet (15m). It could also dump 10 inches (25cm) or more of rain on the state.

"It's a big storm," the Texas governor, Rick Perry, said. "I cannot overemphasize the danger that is facing us. It's going to do some substantial damage. It's going to knock out power. It's going to cause massive flooding."

"We're not talking about gently rising water," Harris County judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator, said. "We're talking about a surge that will come into your homes."

Hurricane warnings were in effect over a 400-mile stretch of coastline from south of Corpus Christi to Morgan City, Louisiana. Tropical storm warnings extended south almost to the Mexican border and east to the Mississippi-Alabama line, including New Orleans.

Most of the evacuations were limited to sections of Harris County outside Houston, as well as nearby Galveston Bay. But the 2 million residents of the city itself and 1 million in other areas of the county were asked to remain at home.

"We are still saying: please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Emmett. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain, but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

Nasa closed the Johnson Space Center, including Mission Control, and set up temporary headquarters near Austin and Huntsville, Alabama.

Wholesale gasoline prices rose 30% yesterday out of fear of the damage Ike could cause the refining industry. The upper Texas coast accounts for a fifth of US refining capacity.

Ike would be the first major hurricane to hit a US metropolitan area since Katrina devastated New Orleans three years ago. For Houston, it would be the first major hurricane since Alicia in August 1983 came ashore on Galveston Island, killing 21 people and causing $2bn in damage.