Ike Heads Toward Central Texas Coast

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Ike Heads Toward Central Texas Coast

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Galveston Cover

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The city of New Orleans is out of danger.

Offshore Rigs:

The latest forecasts show Ike coming ashore on the Texas coast, just west of Houston, raising fears of damage to the refining capacity of an already stretched petroleum industry.  Back to back major storms in the Gulf of Mexico have cut deeply into U.S. energy supplies.  Ike's most likely track will take it on a path for a direct hit on the oil patch of 4,000 platforms which produces 25 percent of the oil and 15 percent of the natural gas used in the United States.  Production on many platforms has been shut down since before the arrival of Hurricane Gustav.

Galveston:

Galveston County, and officials urged residents to finish storm preparations quickly. Some gas stations were running out of fuel as residents scurried to leave.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas extended a mandatory evacuation that had covered the west side of the island, unprotected by a seawall, to the entire island.

"This is a very hard call for me to make but our intent is to save lives," Thomas said. "We believe it is best for people to leave."

She said the city will not open shelters. Those who choose to ignore the order to leave are advised to have food supplies, water, and medicine, on their secured homes.

Houston:

Evacuation orders were also issued for all of Jefferson and Orange counties, an area home to more than 320,000 people between Houston and the Louisiana state line, and part of San Patricio County farther south.

Authorities were hoping to avoid the traffic gridlock of three years ago, when Hurricane Rita threatened Houston.  They urged people who don't live in eight specific zip codes in the low-lying areas and near Galveston Bay to remain at home.

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

As Houston residents were readying themselves for the weekend, hardware stores put limits on the number of gas containers that could be sold.  Batteries, drinking water and other storm supplies were running low, and grocery stores were getting set to close.  Houston is slowly shutting down, and people are moving indoors. The only thing to do is wait and see what Ike has in store.

Dallas:

Over three-hundred miles inland, Dallas utility providers are bracing for tropical storm strength winds.

"If predictions hold true, damage resulting from Ike could be extensive," said Megan Wright, spokeswoman for Oncor Electric Delivery. "Whenever you have these high winds you can expect trees blowing into power lines, debris blowing into power lines ....

"And those things cause some extended power outages."

If that happens, it could be similar to spring-time storms when entire neighborhoods go without electricity until repair crews restore power.

"Oncor is ready, taking necessary precautions for what may result," Wright said.

Wright joined officials for the American Red Cross in urging residents to have put together emergency kits, including extra water, flashlights and extra batteries, dried food, medications and a radio.

North Texans may begin noticing the hurricane Saturday morning, said Tara Dudzik, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. Dudzik said the fierce weather won't prompt evacuations in North Texas.

Emergency officials in North Texas prepared Thursday to house thousands of evacuees fleeing Hurricane Ike.  Officials with the American Red Cross estimated that North Texas could need as many as 17,000 shelter beds.  The largest shelter facility by far in the region is the Dallas Convention Center.  Fort Worth, Irving, Carrollton, Mesquite, Denton and Lewisville, are providing shelter space, also.  Dallas officials announced that 288 buses carrying evacuees would come to Dallas from Harris County.  The first of the buses arrived Thursday.  Evacuees arriving by bus will be directed to the Mesquite center, where they will be distributed to area shelters so as not to overwhelm any one shelter.

State Level:

Preparations by Texas officials continue as Ike stirs the Eastern Gulf.  The Governor’s Division of Emergency Management is monitoring the storm.  Its  State Operations Center SOC) is coordinating preparedness efforts with the National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters, State, Federal, Private Industry Partners, volunteers, and local jurisdictions, as the situation progresses.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry spurred storm preparations as the National Hurricane Center warned the strengthening storm could make landfall this weekend in Texas.  Given the uncertainty of the strike location, Texas has commenced preparations for the maximum evacuation of the Texas Coast.

"While Hurricane Gustav is still fresh on the minds of coastal residents, we must now turn our attention to Hurricane Ike as it poses a potential threat to the Texas coast," said Perry, who also requested a presidential disaster declaration for 88 counties.

Texas National Guard, and their six C-130 cargo planes, ten UH-60, and five OH-58 helicopters are on stand-by.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC): requested supplies such as water and ice for centers in San Antonio, Beaumont, and Lufkin.

A state fuel coordination team is making preparations to move fuel to impacted areas.

A statewide shelter network will be activated by Wednesday, September 10, for citizens displaced by the storm.

Deployment of search and rescue (SAR) units and other response teams are in progress. State emergency personnel are finalizing logistical support, and planning for the evacuation of Medical Special Needs citizens.  The state of Oklahoma has agreed to receive 12,000 special needs medical patients from areas at risk.

In southeast Texas, officials said they are concerned that the frequency of hurricanes may cause coastal residents to ignore evacuation orders as Ike approaches.

"These evacuations are so hard, especially on the elderly.  There are quite a few people that say they are not leaving again," said Crystal Holmes, spokeswoman for Southeast Texas Emergency Management. "We ... always worry that we will get something like Hurricane Rita (which hit southeast Texas in 2005), which was devastating for our area."