Texas Takes Stock Of Ike's Impact

Rescue Crews Search For Survivors; Millions Without Power; Thousands Of Homes Flooded

(CBS/AP)  Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks fanned out along the flood-stricken Texas coast Saturday in a monumental effort to reach tens of thousands of people who stubbornly ignored warnings and tried to ride out Hurricane Ike.

The storm roared ashore hours before daybreak with 110 mph winds and towering waves, smashing houses, flooding thousands of homes, blowing out windows in Houston's skyscrapers, and cutting off power to more than 3 million people. Utility companies were already warning that it may take up to a month to restore power to all the affected areas, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. Some homes, though, had power restored Saturday night.

By nightfall, it appeared that Ike was not the single calamitous stroke that forecasters had feared. But the full extent of the damage - or even a rough sense of how many people may have perished was still unclear, in part because many roads were impassable.

Some authorities feared that this could instead become a slow-motion disaster, with thousands of victims trapped in their homes, waiting for days to be rescued.

"We will be doing this probably for the next week or more. We hope it doesn't turn into a recovery," said Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Marlow in Orange County, where 600 to 700 people had to be rescued from flooded homes. He said hundreds were probably still stranded. (Read damage reports for the Houston area, courtesy of CBS affiliate KHOU-TV.)

By some estimates, more than 140,000 of the 1 million or so people who had been ordered to evacuate the coast as Ike drew near may have tried to tough it out. Many of them evidently realized the mistake too late, and pleaded with authorities in vain to save them overnight.

The storm, which killed more than 80 in the Caribbean before reaching the U.S., was blamed for at least four lives, two each in Texas and Louisiana.

Since Ike made landfall, there have been 940 rescues in Texas of people stranded in homes, vehicles and elsewhere, said Gov. Rick Perry's spokeswoman Allison Castle. In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal said nearly 600 people were plucked from Ike's floodwaters since Friday and that search and rescue teams believe the largest number of rescues was behind them.

A downgraded Ike clung to tropical storm status late Saturday with sustained winds near 40 mph. The storm's core was about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, at 11 p.m. EDT as Ike rumbled northward out of Texas, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

The center warned residents of Arkansas, northern Louisiana and southern Missouri that Ike was still dangerous and could unleash isolated tornadoes and dump from 3 to 8 inches of rain anywhere in a wide swath of the nation's midsection.

A man named Michael told The Early Show weather anchor Dave Price that he and two friends rode out the storm and were rescued from the roof of their apartment building in Galveston, Texas.

"We made it through [Hurricane] Carla, made it through Alicia," he said. "We all assumed we would make it through this one."

Ronnie Sharp, 65, and his terrier-mix Princess, had to be rescued from his trailer in Orange County when water reached his knees. "I was getting too many snakes in the house, otherwise I would have stayed," Sharp said. He said he lost most everything in the flood.

After the storm had passed, National Guardsmen and crews from the Coast Guard, FEMA and state and local law enforcement authorities mobilized for what Perry pronounced "the largest search-and-rescue operation in the history of the state of Texas."

Hundreds of those rescued from inundated Orange County homes were expected to be bused to shelters elsewhere in Texas.

Some emergency officials were angry and frustrated that so many people ignored the warnings.

"When you stay behind in the face of a warning, not only do you jeopardize yourself, you put the first responders at risk as well," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. "Now we're going to see this play out."

Steve LeBlanc, Galveston's city manager, said: "There was a mandatory evacuation, and people didn't leave, and that is very frustrating because now we are having to deal with everybody who did not heed the order."

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Photos: Ike Smashes Texas

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Because Ike was so huge - some 500 miles across, making it nearly as big as Texas itself - hurricane winds pounded the coast for hours before and after the storm waded ashore. Ike soon weakened to a tropical storm en route inland, but continued to pound the state with 60 mph winds and rain.

Officials were encouraged to learn that the storm surge topped out at only 15 feet - far lower than the catastrophic 20-to-25 foot wall of water forecasters had feared.

Preliminary industry estimates indicate damage at $8 billion.

Damage to the nation's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants appeared to be slight, but gasoline prices shot up for fear that the supply would be interrupted by power outages and the time necessary to restart a refinery. In some parts of the country, gas prices surged briefly to $5 a gallon.

Hundreds of people were rescued from their flooded-out homes, in many cases by emergency crews that had to make their way through high water and streets blocked by peeled-away roofs, wayward yachts and uprooted trees.

(Left: Debris is seen scattered across Highway 146 in Kemah, Texas, after Hurricane Ike moved through the area, Sept. 13, 2008.)

Chertoff cautioned the death toll could rise as searchers reached remote areas.

Among deaths in Texas, a woman was killed in her sleep when a tree fell on her home near Pinehurst, and a 19-year-old man slipped off a jetty near Corpus Christi and was apparently washed away.

In Louisiana, Terrebonne Parish coroner senior investigator Gary Alford says a 16-year-old boy drowned in his house in Bayou Dularge, when he fell through wooden pallets used as flooring and floodwaters rose. Alford also said a 57-year-old man died from a broken neck after he was blown over by wind.

Lisa Lee spent hours on the roof of her Bridge City home with her husband, John, her 16-year-old brother, William Robinson, and their two dogs. They dove into 8-foot floodwaters and swam to safety after a sheriff's deputy arrived in a truck and drove as close to their home as he could. Their dogs paddled to safety behind them.

"It was like a dream," said William Robinson, while his sister shivered in a blanket at a shelter at a Baptist church in Orange.

A convoy of search-and-rescue teams from Texas and California drove into Galveston - where the storm came ashore at 3:10 a.m. EDT after bulldozers cleared away mountains of debris. Interstate 45, the only road onto the island, was littered with overturned yachts, dead pelicans and debris from homes and docks.

Homes and other buildings in Galveston and homes burned unattended during the height of Ike's fury; 17 collapsed because crews couldn't get to them to douse the flames. There was no water or electricity on the island, and the main hospital, the University of Texas Medical Branch, flew critically ill patients to other medical center.

As they waited to return home, some evacuees were having a difficult time dealing with the uncertainty surrounding their homes and communities, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman. At a shelter in Austin, Trisha Medina was losing it.

"I don't want my house gone," she said. "I like my house. It's not the best house but it's mine."

Volunteer Louis Blaze, who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina three years ago, had advice for the evacuees.

"I would tell them to let the system work for you, not against you," he said. "I mean it takes time."
President Bush declared a major disaster in his home state of Texas and ordered immediate federal aid.

In downtown Houston, shattered glass rained down on the streets below the JPMorgan Chase Tower, the state's tallest building at 75 stories. Trees were uprooted in the streets, road signs mangled by wind.

"I think we're like at ground zero," said Mauricio Diaz, 36, as he walked amid broken glass from the Chase building.

[txgrouch2006]

Just 10 miles east of me - still 30 miles from the storm track - some friends of mine have no water or electricity.

I can''t even find out what happened anywhere east of Houston. City websites are down, so you can''t even look for information there.

If Katrina had hit Houston, this entire corner of the state would be uninhabitable. Not because of damaged buildings, but because of the COMPLETE breakdown of the utility infrastructure. If just a cat 2 storm did this much damage, a cat 5 storm would knock out power and water for MONTHS.

[txgrouch2006]

The BIG STORY about Ike is how such a mild storm has COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE MULTI-COUNTY AREA.

I live 20 miles west of Houton. Ike passed over 20 miles to the east of Houston. That''s 40 plus miles away from a category 2 storm.

And yet, entire neighborhoods are still totally dark in this area. Even streetlights and traffic lights are out. My neighborhood is one of the FEW with power and water.

ALL grocery stores are shut down. I found only one with electricity, and it was closed anyway. People will start running out of food soon.

One gas station has gas, and there was a long line of cars waiting to fill up. Good thing I filled up before the storm.

Telephone service is out. The land line gets a dial tone, but you can''t dial anywhere without getting a fast busy signal. Cell phone service is overloaded, my cell phone can''t find the network.

Schools are closed until WEDNESDAY for the whole county.

WHAT IF A REAL HURRICANE CAME HERE? We''d be living like cavemen for weeks, maybe months.

SOMETHING IS REALLY MESSED UP ABOUT THIS. The power grid should not have gotten this much damage from such a mild storm.

[jazzer9]

A person is very selfish if they do not care enough to save their own life to leave a deadly situation-yet-want someone else to walk into a deadly situation to save them. If the rescuer loses his/her life then their family suffers. That is selfish and wrong and I would get to them when I get to them. In addition-any caregiver that didn''t leave and the people they were caring for died-the caregiver should be charged with murder. If the people/person didn''t die the caregiver should be charged with attempted murder. ZERO TOLERENCE.

[erasmus81]

"And, the people living there live in houses built on piers and use boats for transporation. I seriously doubt they need to be rescued." Posted by tuckerndfw at 08:17 AM : Sep 14, 2008

That''s good, because if it was left up to me, I''d leave the silly fools there.

I know, I''m mean and heartless.
Oh,and vicious too.

[ralan40]

Just a few days ago, Many people decided to face a natural weather event that happens on a regular basis. How wonderful that they''ll now live to help us choose our next leader.

..let us now blame the government for not better enabling the idoits who ignored the warnings to evacuate.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 07:46 AM : Sep 14, 2008

How''s that elephant? LOL See you made it thru ok.

[noaanhc]

Everyone of those idiots should foot the bill for their rescue

Posted by CarlyLaine

Another idead,impose a $10,000 fine on everyone of those idiots who failed to ignore the mandatory order to evacuate.

[noaanhc]

Everyone of those idiots should foot the bill for
their rescuse.

Posted by CarlyLaine

I agree with you totally with on that.

[messiahx4eve]

Hmmmm, seems to me that since these storms have been going on for years and the towns and cities have been being rebuilt as far back as 1900''s, how is it that prices were never affected then like they are now, within SECONDS of warnings. It can''t just be technological, could it just be an extremely flimsy, see-thru excuse to continue gouging the American public? If the world ever comes to an end during our life time, I pray that the oil companies, utility companies, and all media companies are the LAST to go and may it be YEARS before they perish and expire, one by one. If having it all is not enough, when will enough actually BE ENOUGH?

[carlylaine]

The jerks chose to stay, they should accept the consequences of their own choices. Where is personal responsiblility? Every one of the idiots should foot the bill for their rescue.

[airboatboy1]

Yes, "negro vote", I think that is exactly what Nagin did. I don''t recall ever seeing so many white people being rescued or stranded. Keep up your brilliance.

[jodyrae4]

Can''t feel for the people that didn''t leave... You ignore the warning to get out (LIKE KATRINA!) and stay! Is just stupid...I feel for all the rescue people that have to put their lives in danger for these people.

[cncrndctzn]

I lost everything I owned in Katrina in New Orleans (I evacuated) and I saw first hand what can happen during one of these hurricanes. I''m sorry...people who ignore the warnings to evacuate are not only foolish, they''re selfish. I think they should bill these people for the cost of their rescue.

[hawkman1001-2009]

Maybe the ACLU won people the right to refuse evacuation, but that doesn''t mean that people shouldn''t be held accountable for their gross stupidity. Anybody who stayed behind and has to be rescued should get a bill for the full amount of the rescue. If they don''t pay, they should be taken to civil court. I''ll bet it would only have to happen and publicized a few times before people got the message.

The trouble is that many of these people are as clueless and paranoid as Bozworth4 and would think this is some sort of new government plot to get them.

Ain''t the USA wonderful?

[legacyabq]

Did Mayor Nagin dynamite the levees to drive out white residents to make New Orleans a "chocolate city" ? Posted by Negro-Vote
_____________________________________________________
Gee, hahaha..
Even if he did, um, duh, it was the poor, black neighborhoods that got flooded.. So if anything, they were the ones to flee new orleans.. Moron..

[pensacola98]

The ACLU successfully won the right for a resident to legally decline evacuation. It is a constitutional right to be stupid and expose yourself and family to danger.

Basic services, like waste water treatment, water, electricity, telephone and safe public roads, are considered essential for a community to survive and civil defense is dedicated to restoration of any lost services after a disaster.

[notfooled]

Another tragedy - we can only hope that FEMA will let someone else helps these folks.

[rowdy6680]

I would bet bozworth that you are younger than I am...I could be wrong..but maybe not. I''m the last person that would want to forcibly want to enforce some things on the people of the US. Make sure you read the posts about common sense. How many people here are actually stupid enough when experts tell you, "Your life is in immediate danger if you don''t leave the area" would actually stay? So far it seems like 100,000 or so out of a couple million. And here now we have to WASTE rescue resources on those that wouldn''t leave. I don''t wish the government to tell anyone or all your BS about camps and whatever...you''re more misguided than I am. People that have intelligence, common sense...do not ignore a mandatory evacuation....on the other hand...a "we would advise you to leave/evacuate" OK...ignore that even if you don''t want to leave. They warned and gave a Mandatory Evacuation notice for a reason. Rag on me all you want...the bottom line is they were warned...I''d make everyone they have to rescue that didn''t heed the warning pay for their rescue even.

[rowdy6680]

Yep...that''s what''s missing...COMMON SENSE...dovestar...how ridiculous you are at even suggesting I think their should be some law mandating that those that were too stubborn to leave and cry out to be rescued be rescued by law. I appreciate the laugh. I also wish you well in Houston because I''m sure you are in a bit of a mess now. BUT the bottom line is as others have said..life is more valuable than "stuff" and there comes a time when a decision has to be made...I just find it ridiculous that rescue personnel are now having to rescue the a$$es of those that didn''t follow the order to evacuate! You can replace "stuff" and until I learn otherwise...I''ll keep my belief in the fact that you can''t replace a life.

[kennergirl]

Nagin didn''t dynamite anything (except his career in politics).