HOUSTON: Rescuers made their way through piles of debris and water-filled streets in Texas seaside towns yesterday after Hurricane Ike flooded hundreds of miles of US coastline, cut power to millions and pummeled the oil hub of Houston.
A weakened Ike pushed northward after slamming into the Texas coast as a giant Category 2 hurricane on Saturday, leaving extensive devastation in its wake.
Officials have barely begun to assess the damage, which early estimates put in the billions of dollars. There were no confirmed reports of deaths from the hurricane.
Ike, which idled a quarter of US crude oil production and refining capacity, swamped the island city of Galveston and hammered Houston, the fourth most populous US city.
The sea wall protecting the coastal barrier island of Galveston, where Ike crashed ashore, was piled high with the detritus of wrecked buildings, boats and other debris.
Wreckage and floodwaters have hampered rescuers attempt to search all 51 sq km of Galveston, where about 10,000 people ignored a mandatory evacuation order. Heavy rains falling across Houston yesterday threatened more flooding, which could impede search and rescue efforts.
In Houston, 85 km inland, Ike shattered the windows of skyscrapers, showering streets with glass and debris, tore apart bus shelters and ripped metal sheets off buildings.
Officials extended a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for Houston, citing lack of electricity and downed power lines.
Some 30 people have been arrested for looting, police said.
“This hurricane has caused devastation across areas of Texas and Louisiana,” David Paulison, administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Saturday.
According to an early computer-model estimate of damage by the insurance industry, Ike could lead to $8 billion to $18 billion in claims. Federal and state officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, are set to tour storm-damaged areas today.
US President George W. Bush will visit Texas to view the devastation on Tuesday.
About 2 million people evacuated before Ike made landfall early Saturday. Officials urged residents to stay away for now, but many have returned to survey the damage despite widespread power outages and gasoline shortages.
About 4.5 million people could face weeks of power outages.
David Smith, mayor of Friendswood in Galveston County, urged residents not to come back to stay until electricity was restored. “Resources are stretched. There’s no power.” Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Saturday noted “very heavy damage” to the power grid.
In Beaumont, Texas, authorities said damage was so extensive that it could be more than a month before power is restored.
The storm weakened to a tropical depression early yesterday as it moved across western Arkansas, heading north on a path expected to bring heavy rains over an area stretching as far as Canada. The vital Houston Shipping Channel was not hit as hard as expected by a storm surge that could have swamped refineries.
Ike triggered the biggest disruption to US energy supplies in at least three years and sent gasoline prices higher at the pumps. Oil traders will have a chance to react during an electronic trading session today.
Ike was bigger than Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, but its impact was not as devastating. Chertoff said at least 940 people had been rescued, but he had no confirmation of any storm-related deaths.
