Ike now a tropical depression

Sunday, September 14, 2008

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As of 11 p.m. Ike was still a tropical storm.

GALVESTON, Texas (Bay News 9) 7:03 p.m. -- The hurricane that had devastated much of southeastern Texas had diminished to a tropical depression by Sunday morning.

As of 4 a.m. EST, the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Ike to a tropical depression, clocking the storm's winds at 35 mph. The 4 a.m. advisory is the center's final advisory for the storm.

The storm is moving 30 mph to the northeast and the center of the storm was about 115 miles north of Little Rock, Ark.

Ike spent much of Saturday battering southeastern Texas. Millions of people were left without power as the storm's high-speed winds blew out windows and sent debris flying.

The coastal areas began to feel the impact of Ike several hours before the arrival of the storm, which forecasters said was as big as the state of Texas itself. A storm surge of at least 13 feet was recorded in some areas, leaving highways submerged and buildings flooded.

The historic district of Galveston found itself flooded with seven feet of water at the storm's peak, according to Galveston County official Margaret Bunch.

Emergency officials found themselves facing other challenges during the storms, as they were unable to reach several fires that started during the storm. Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said 10 homes and a boat warehouse were lost to flames during the storm.

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President Bush declared 29 Texas counties a major disaster area, a move that makes federal funds available for recovery from the storm, which has been blamed for four deaths in Texas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office announced what it called the largest search-and-rescue operation ever mounted in the state. Lines of National Guard trucks and ambulances were coming in from San Antonio.

Curfews are in place in Galveston until dawn Monday and in Houston's Harris County until 6 a.m. Sunday.

Houston Mayor Bill White said his city appears to have avoided loss of life, but streets blocked by floodwaters, downed trees and power lines hampered efforts to determine the full extent of the damage.

Authorities shut down downtown Houston, where the streets were littered with debris, including traffic lights and glass, for cleanup and damage assessment. The city's tallest skyscraper, the 75-story JP Morgan Chase Tower, was missing many of its windows.

White advised residents to drink bottled or boiled tap water as a precaution after a power outage reduced water pressure, but he said nothing indicated that the water supply was contaminated.

Nearly 2.6 million customers in Texas and Louisiana lack power because of Ike, the U.S. Energy Department said on Saturday.

"It's going to take several weeks to get all this power restored," CenterPoint Energy spokesman Floyd LeBlanc said. "We've been saying two to three weeks."

Hurricane Ike proved to be a huge storm system, 900 miles across at its largest. It remained a hurricane hours after crashing ashore over Galveston at 2:10 a.m.

Its maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph, with higher gusts. It was expected to continue to weaken and move into western Arkansas by Saturday night.

Water from the storm surge swallowed a highway in Surfside, Texas. (slideshow)

Rescuers fanned out in boats Saturday in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, after the storm surge flooded 1,800 homes.

Gas prices jumped in some regions of the country.

"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," President Bush said during brief remarks at the White House Saturday morning.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will travel to Texas Saturday evening, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The Coast Guard said early Saturday that 22 people aboard a freighter that was adrift in the Gulf of Mexico were safe after the storm.

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