Saturday, September 13, 2008

Houston Battles Ike's Fury; 4.5 Million Without Power

Raw video from AP on a fire in Galveston during Ike:



An idiot in a bear suit walks along the Galveston beach as Ike approaches:



AP report on Ike:



Air Station Houston HH-65C rescue helicopter crew pulling citizens out of flood waters on a rescue mission along Bolivar Peninsula during Hurricane Ike along the southeastern Texas coastline:



Houston's KHOU (Channel 11-CBS) is streaming its live coverage of Hurricane Ike, and can be found here.

The Houston Chronicle's Liz Austin Peterson and Lindsay Wise write this morning that Houston officials are asking residents to stay inside and to conserve water:

"Let's finish riding out the storm, and this afternoon we'll assess the damage and we'll make sure that the assets, resources get to where they need to be," [Harris County Judge Ed] Emmett said, adding tropical storm-force winds could continue through mid-afternoon.

Hurricane Ike knocked electricity offline for virtually the entire Houston area as it continued to roar across the area today.

CenterPoint Energy said about 90 percent of its roughly 2 million customers were in the dark before daybreak even as the storm continued to pack a 100 mph punch with the eye still near Kingwood as of 6 a.m. That means nearly 4.5 million residents were without power and doesn't include the service area of Entergy Texas.

CenterPoint spokesman Floyd LeBlanc said downtown Houston and the Medical Center, both of which have underground power lines, were the only large areas with reliable electricity. He said CenterPoint had braced for more than half its customer base losing service, and full restoration could take "several weeks."

Entergy spokesman David Caplan said 96 percent of its customers throughout its service area - or 380,000 - are in the dark. Two generating stations in Bridge City and Willis are down, so they and transmission lines have to be back up before crews can focus on restoring power to customers. Caplan says the process could take weeks.

"As soon as it's safe to travel - it's still blowing out there - we will get a couple hundred scouts to go out and do the assessments, either in vehicles or in helicopters, to fly over the lines, see where the damage is and begin to pull together a restoration plan. That could take 24 to 48 hours, depending on the weather."

The Chronicle's Dane Schiller writes that the storm has virtually swallowed up Surfside Beach in Galveston:

"Everybody is on their own for now," Mayor Larry Davison said of what was believed to be a small group of people who refused to leave their homes.

Looking out over his submerged city hours before Ike's landfall, Davison said damage would be far worse, especially if winds got over 100 mph or the tide got much higher.

Wearing shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and protective rubber boots, Davison literally led the way for the would-be rescue crew as he waded through water in front of the Mack truck and cleared debris, such as floating wood, tool boxes and barrels.

Police and firefighters who rode in the bed of the high-clearance truck appealed to holdouts to leave in order to save their lives.

There were blunt words for those who wouldn't.

"We asked them to write their Social Security numbers on their arms for us," Police Chief Randy Smith said solemnly.

President Bush said this morning that state and federal officials will work to make sure consumers will not be gouged at the gas pumped because of the storm, CNN reports:



In a brief televised statement, Bush said the Environmental Protection Agency waivers on certain reformulated gasolines were suspended Friday night to make it easier for imports to get into U.S. markets.

"In the meantime, the Department of Energy, the Federal Trade Commission and, I know, the state authorities will be monitoring the gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged," the president added.

He said that additional generators were being moved into areas without electricity and that other concerns such as water and ice were being addressed.

Bush said he had asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to travel to Texas to review the federal response to Ike. Chertoff was to arrive in Texas on Saturday evening.

CNN also reported that the freighter that had been adrift in the Gulf of Mexico made it through Hurricane Ike safely and was awaiting a tugboat to bring it to shore Saturday morning. All 22 people aboard the Antalina, a Cypriot-flagged freighter, were safe, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Mike O'Berry said Saturday. It is about 170 miles southeast of Galveston.

The Associated Press reports that Louisiana is also feeling the effects of the storm.

Officials along the Louisiana coast are reporting serious flooding from Hurricane Ike.

Now that the winds are calming, rescue teams are starting to venture out and answer calls for help. Hundreds of homes have been flooded. Gov. Bobby Jindal says 160 people were rescued Friday and more would likely need help Saturday.

Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach says flooding there is worse than in Hurricane Rita three years ago. Ike's storm surge has breached levees and flooded areas still recovering from Hurricane Gustav earlier this month.

Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have cancel campaign events today, including Obama's scheduled appearance on "Saturday Night Live."

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