HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) — Massive Hurricane Ike bore down on Houston, Texas on Friday, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee and sparking a dire warning that those remaining in low-lying areas "face certain death."
"All neighborhoods and possibly entire coastal communities will be inundated during the period of peak storm tide," the National Hurricane Center said late Thursday, referring to land along the Galveston Bay.
"Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family one- or two-story homes will face certain death," it said.
Galveston Bay stretches 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland towards Houston, whose suburbs reach the bay's coast.
The hurricane, pushing a storm surge as high as 22 feet (6.5 meters), was expected to plow onto land late Friday or early Saturday with a direct hit on Galveston and metropolitan Houston, whose population tops 5.6 million.
Texas governor Rick Perry also issued an urgent appeal.
"My message to Texans in the projected impact area is this -- finish your preparations because Ike is dangerous and he's on his way," Perry said.
Authorities in Harris County, whose jurisdiction encompasses Houston, said evacuations in the city's most flood-prone areas -- home to about a quarter million residents -- began at 1700 GMT Thursday.
Forecasters said Ike, which left more than 100 dead across the Caribbean, likely would barrel ashore packing winds in excess of 120 miles (190 kilometers) per hour.
Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst told CNN Thursday that a mass mobilization was well underway.
"We have been moving supplies and moving buses now for four days," he said. "We have moved C-130s (transport planes) and ambulances. We have 1,350 buses we have moved into the area."
Officials said the evacuations began with the elderly, infirm and other residents with special needs. Houston officials planned to re-route highway traffic and said fueling stations would be placed on major roads to facilitate the exodus.
And officials were trying to keep the roads open for residents who need to get out. Harris County executive Ed Emmett told the Houston Chronicle that people who live on high ground should remain at home.
"Unless you are in danger of water coming into your house, and I mean storm surge, not rainfall, you need to stay put," he said.
The NHC issued its stark warning about Galveston Bay after it had become clear that some residents had resisted the order to clear out.
"Unless it's really bad, we don't want to go anywhere," said resident Leslie LeGrande.
Alicia Cahill, a public information officer for Galveston, expressed concern that some people at risk were staying put.
"There's more people here than I would have thought," she said.
History justifies Cahill's concern. The hurricane center lists the "Great Storm" of 1900, which slammed Galveston, as the deadliest hurricane in US history, killing at least 8,000 people.
South of Galveston in Freeport, fewer than 20 percent of the residents remained Thursday, although some still planned to ride out Ike's wrath, a local TV station reported.
At 0900 GMT Friday the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm had maximum sustained winds of around 105 miles (165 kilometers) per hour, making it a Category Two storm on the five-level Simpson-Saffir scale.
The center said Ike was located about 265 miles (425 km) southeast of Galveston, Texas, and was moving west-northwest at 13 miles (20 kilometers) per hour.
"Ike is forecast to become a major hurricane prior to reaching the coastline," the center said, adding that hurricane-force winds extend 120 miles (195 km) from the center and weather will deteriorate "long before the center reaches the coast."
Tropical storm-force winds were already being felt in Louisiana, a state keeping a wary eye on Ike just two weeks after the city of New Orleans and the Louisiana coast was hammered by Hurricane Gustav.
Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was largely closed, though the US Department of Energy said Ike appeared likely to spare most rigs and platforms there.
"Some 95.9 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's 1.3 million barrels per day of oil production and 73.1 percent of its 7.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production has been turned off," the department said in a statement.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
