Hurricane Ike Smashes Its Way Across Texan Coast and Towns
Officials urged residents of low-lying coastal areas to flee or face 'certain death'
Hurricane Ike roared ashore in Texas yesterday, scoring a direct hit on the town of Galveston and bringing widespread chaos and disruption to millions in Houston.
The gigantic storm, which has left a trail of death and destruction across the Caribbean, forced a massive wall of water over the Texan coastline, reminiscent of the devastating Hurricane Katrina that smashed New Orleans in 2005. Fearing a repeat of such a disaster Texas officials had urged residents of low-lying coastal areas to flee, warning that they faced 'certain death' if they stayed.
More than a million people obeyed the orders to leave. However, it is believed 140,000 residents stayed behind to try to ride out the storm. Early reports indicated that Ike will have caused massive damage from its powerful winds of 100mph or more and the surge of floodwaters, which could top 7m high. More than four million people lost power as electricity lines were blown down. So far at least three people have died, including a young child.
There has been extensive damage from flooding and fires that raged out of control and out of the reach of emergency services. Rescue teams of firefighters and police were preparing to save many of those who stayed behind and would now be cut off by floodwaters or trapped in damaged buildings.
'We'll probably do the largest search and rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas,' said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Texas governor Rick Perry.
The eye of the storm made an early-morning landfall at Galveston, a pretty resort town on the Texas coast which was destroyed by a hurricane more than a hundred years ago that cost thousands of lives and remains the worst natural disaster in American history.
By passing over Houston, Ike was also the first major hurricane to hit a big US city since Katrina. It was the first to hit Houston and Galveston since 1983, when a storm powered ashore killing 21 people and causing $2bn of damages.
Ike was packing wind speeds of 110mph when it struck Galveston, putting it at a very strong Category Two storm. However, it was the sheer size of the storm that was the main worry. The giant weather system was almost as big as Texas itself.
The gigantic storm, which has left a trail of death and destruction across the Caribbean, forced a massive wall of water over the Texan coastline, reminiscent of the devastating Hurricane Katrina that smashed New Orleans in 2005. Fearing a repeat of such a disaster Texas officials had urged residents of low-lying coastal areas to flee, warning that they faced 'certain death' if they stayed.
More than a million people obeyed the orders to leave. However, it is believed 140,000 residents stayed behind to try to ride out the storm. Early reports indicated that Ike will have caused massive damage from its powerful winds of 100mph or more and the surge of floodwaters, which could top 7m high. More than four million people lost power as electricity lines were blown down. So far at least three people have died, including a young child.
There has been extensive damage from flooding and fires that raged out of control and out of the reach of emergency services. Rescue teams of firefighters and police were preparing to save many of those who stayed behind and would now be cut off by floodwaters or trapped in damaged buildings.
'We'll probably do the largest search and rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas,' said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Texas governor Rick Perry.
The eye of the storm made an early-morning landfall at Galveston, a pretty resort town on the Texas coast which was destroyed by a hurricane more than a hundred years ago that cost thousands of lives and remains the worst natural disaster in American history.
By passing over Houston, Ike was also the first major hurricane to hit a big US city since Katrina. It was the first to hit Houston and Galveston since 1983, when a storm powered ashore killing 21 people and causing $2bn of damages.
Ike was packing wind speeds of 110mph when it struck Galveston, putting it at a very strong Category Two storm. However, it was the sheer size of the storm that was the main worry. The giant weather system was almost as big as Texas itself.
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