Thousands of Texans flee Hurricane Ike
Thousands of people fled coastal areas in the path of Hurricane Ike as the storm gathers strength on a collision course with the Texas Gulf Coast.
Ike was a Category 2 storm with 105mph (165kph) winds and is likely to come ashore early on Saturday as a potentially dangerous Category 3 storm with winds of more than 111mph (178kph), the US National Hurricane Centre said.
The storm menaced Houston, the fourth-most populous US city and hub of the oil industry.
Although the city could see hurricane-force winds, officials called for most residents to “shelter in place.”
Houston Mayor Bill White said: “They are in a safer, better position if they stay where they are.”
The National Weather Service warned of deadly flooding in some Gulf coastal communities during the period of peak storm tide.
It said: “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two story homes may face certain death. Many residences of average construction directly on the coast will be destroyed.”
Ike is expected to produce heavy rains of up to 15 inches (38 cm) in some areas, the hurricane centre said in its advisory.
The storm arrives just ten days after Hurricane Gustav forced 2 million people to flee the Louisiana coast and threatened a New Orleans still reeling from Katrina’s devastation.
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Washington: “The most important message I can send is, do not take this storm lightly. This is not a storm to gamble with.”
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