Hurricane Ike Set to Slam Texas Coast; Thousands Flee (Update2)
By Brian K. Sullivan and Tom Korosec

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) — Hurricane Ike bore down on Texas, heading for landfall as early as today in Galveston, where forecasters warned residents of “certain death” if they ignore a mandatory evacuation order.

The warning from the National Hurricane Center also applies to coastal areas around Galveston, southeast of Houston, where highways were jammed yesterday as thousands fled inland. Parts of Galveston were already flooded, half a day before the storm’s eye is expected to come ashore. Galveston Bay will be hit by an ocean surge as high as 25 feet (7.6 meters), and water levels a mile in from the coast may exceed 9 feet, the center said.

“All neighborhoods and possibly entire coastal communities will be inundated during the period of peak storm tide,” the center said.

“Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family, one- or two-story homes may face certain death.”

Ike, which tripled in size in the Gulf of Mexico in the past two days, was a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (169 kph), the center said just before 10 a.m. Houston time. Ike is following a track similar to the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 8,000 people, the deadliest storm in U.S. history.

Source: Bloomberg.com

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