GALVESTON, Texas (AFP) — Rescuers searched Hurricane Ike's trail of destruction and floods for survivors Sunday, amid news that at least three people were killed by the storm in the weather-ravaged port city of Galveston.
Fears mounted of an impending gasoline crunch after Ike hammered the oil hub, apparently impairing US oil production when it slammed the US Gulf Coast on Saturday, stranding thousands of people and causing billions of dollars in damage.
Emergency teams backed by dozens of helicopters rescued 940 people along the Texas coast by midday, Houston radio reported, as the search widened for those stranded or missing in flattened homes and on swamped roads.
More than three million people were left without power in Texas and Louisiana. Officials warned it could be weeks before electricity was restored to some customers, prompting authorities in Houston to announce a 9 pm to 6 am curfew to prevent accidents on roads strewn with fallen trees, power lines and broken windows.
City officials in Galveston, the city hardest hit by the monster storm, were awaiting a medical examiner's report to determine what precisely led to the three deaths.
In Galveston, about 400 emergency workers fanned out in dozens of vehicles across the inundated city to search for survivors and clear debris from roadways.
More than 2.2 million people fled inland but more than 100,000 residents of low-lying areas -- including 20,000 in Galveston alone -- decided to ride out the storm despite dire warnings from the national weather service.
Refineries in the important oil-hub were shut down by the storm and could remain closed for up to nine days, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison told CBS television.
The storm's effects meant that "refined gasoline is going to be in a shortage situation because of the power outages and the flooding," she said.
Crude oil prices fell nearly two dollars on Sunday in New York, dipping below 100 dollars to 99.30 dollars, as traders were reassured that refineries and rigs had been spared the worst.
Gasoline prices at pump stations, however, spiked in the southeastern US and officials warned they would punish firms engaged in price-gouging.
The center of Ike made landfall as a Category Two hurricane early Saturday on Galveston Island, unleashing a wall of water and ferocious winds that ripped through the country's fourth-largest city Houston.
The storm's force spread a swathe of destruction across a 500-mile (800-kilometer) span of the coast, causing at least eight billion dollars in onshore damage.
By Sunday, the storm had weakened to a tropical depression as it hovered over the southern state of Arkansas and headed toward Missouri and other central Mississippi valley states.
"Fortunately, the worst-case scenario that was projected in some areas did not occur, particularly in the Houston ship channel," Texas Governor Rick Perry said on Saturday. "But there is plenty of damage out there."
Heavy rain overnight in Houston aggravated flooding caused by Ike and authorities advised evacuees to hold off on returning home while roads were still blocked and traffic lights out.
"We're asking people just to be patient," Federal Emergency Management Agency director David Paulison told CNN on Sunday. "Don't be in a hurry. If you're in a safe place, whether a shelter or hotel or motel, or staying with friends and family, just stay right there."
With power still out for most Houston households, local radio reported more than 30 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning after people used generators indoors.
Bush said he would travel to Texas on Tuesday and promised food and water deliveries, after meeting Federal Emergency Management Agency director David Paulison in Washington.
Earlier, the president declared a major disaster in Louisiana after issuing the same declaration for Texas, freeing up federal funds for assistance.
Three US-based risk assessment firms tagged the onshore damage at anywhere between eight and 18 billion dollars (5.6-12.7 billion euros).
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