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Hurricane Ike barrelled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early yesterday, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds and rain that flooded large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and paralyzed the fourth-largest US city.
Ike, which has idled more than a fifth of US oil production, came ashore at the barrier island city of Galveston as a strong Category 2 storm at 2AM local time with 175km/h winds, the National Hurricane Center said. Ike barrelled through the Gulf of Mexico for days and covered a vast area extending hundreds of kilometres when it slammed into the Texas coast. It is the biggest storm to hit a US city since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. The hurricane drove a wall of water over Galveston and submerged a 5m sea wall built to protect the city after a 1900 hurricane killed at least 8 000 people. More than half of its 60 000 residents had fled and emergency operations were suspended through the storm. About 80km inland, Ike lashed downtown Houston’s glass-covered skyscrapers, blowing out windows and sending debris flying through water-clogged city streets. The storm was downgraded to a Category 1 on the hurricane intensity scale at 8AM, carrying top sustained winds near 145 km/h and moving north, but officials said it was too soon to assess the damage. Texas officials were waiting for a break in the weather to deploy a search and rescue operation. "We expected a major storm and our expectations unfortunately came true," said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Texas Governor Rick Perry. "The weather needs to clear up a little bit to see just what the devastation was." The hurricane has shut down 17 oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, the heart of the US oil sector where 22% of fuel supplies are processed. Energy experts said it would take at least a week for the refineries to get back to normal. — Reuters.
ane hits Texas
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