WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush declared an emergency in Texas Wednesday and state authorities began ordering evacuations as deadly Hurricane Ike churned in the Gulf of Mexico toward the US state.
The presidential declaration frees up federal aid to boost local efforts, as the state girds for expected landfall later this week by Ike, which is forecast to pick up speed and become a major hurricane before slamming the Texas coast.
"The president today declared an emergency exists in the State of Texas and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Ike beginning on September 7, 2008, and continuing," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
A mandatory evacuation order went into effect in the coastal area immediately south of Galveston, Texas, early Wednesday, Brazoria County officials said.
Ike has now moved into the Gulf of Mexico, home to the bulk of US oil refineries, and is headed toward the southern Texas coastline where it could strike land early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it would complete evacuation of personnel from its offshore installations by Wednesday.
At 1500 GMT Wednesday, Ike was about 225 miles (365 kilometers) west-southwest of Key West, Florida, moving west-northwest eight miles per hour (13 kilometers), the US National Hurricane Center said.
Already packing sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (150 kilometers), with higher gusts, Ike, a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was likely to strengthen into a "major storm" after passing over the warm waters of the central Gulf of Mexico, the NHC said.
It was on a track to swell further to a major Category Three hurricane before slamming into Texas' coast, the NHC forecast.
Texas Governor Rick Perry on Monday declared a disaster threat in 88 counties on and near Texas' Gulf coast, which helps free up resources and ease the way for federal government assistance.
Evacuations were starting to lurch into gear Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement. "Federal assets will support these evacuations to ensure that everyone can get to safety," the statement stressed.
In Texas' Brazoria County, authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for the 77541 postal code early Wednesday. The rest of the county was for the moment under voluntary evacuation instructions, they said.
Texas National Guard troops and Air Force personnel from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida have been staging equipment and unloading troops for medical triage in the HALO-Flight hangar at Corpus Christi International Airport since early Tuesday, the Caller-Times newspaper reported.
"C-130 cargo planes have come and gone through the night bringing troops and dropping off equipment, which includes portable air-conditioning systems for patient comfort. The evacuation assistance group will work in tandem with city and county officials to assist the primary evacuation of people with medical needs and disabilities," the daily added.
Ike was grinding toward Texas Wednesday after killing more than 100 people across the Caribbean.
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