Hurricane Ike slammed the shores of Texas at around 3:10 AM ET Saturday as a Category 2 hurricane that packed high winds, a 20 foot storm surge and brought heavy rains to Galveston, Texas. Prior to the brunt of the storm, high waves flooded streets. At around 8 PM, electricity failed. CenterPoint Energy said that at least 1.6 million customers, as many as 3 million people were without power and it could be weeks to restore it.
Despite dire warnings for residents to evacuate the Texas' Gulf shores prior to Ike's landfall, officials estimate that as many as 250,000 people defied warnings and could be in need of rescue, but these efforts won't begin until the storm subsides.
Video of Galveston prior to Hurricane Ike's landfall.Governor Rick Perry's spokesman Andrew Barlow said, "The unfortunate truth is we're going to have to go in ... and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We'll probably do the largest search-and-rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas."
Hurricane Ike brought destruction and flooding in his wake. Entire neighborhoods were flooded, a historic restaurant, Brennan's of Houston, caught fire and was left to burn because of high winds and the Kemah Boardwalk, at the mouth of Galveston Bay that's surrounded by multimillion dollar homes was submerged, according to state officials.
It's been estimated that Hurricane Ike could be responsible for as much as $100 billion dollars worth of damages and is the biggest storm to slam on American shores since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Many Texas communities have issued a curfew that prohibits people from leaving their homes, violators will be arrested and charged.
At 4 AM The National Hurricane Center stated Hurricane Ike was about 25 miles east of Houston, Texas traveling at 13 miles an hour with maximum sustained winds of 110 MPH.
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