Disaster Recovery News

They warned us this would happen. We are seeing the devastation of the pre-cursor to Hurricane Ike as flood waters poured into Galveston this morning flooding streets, homes and businesses. And Ike has yet to make landfall.

Over 200,000 people have evacuated the low-lying areas near Houston after the government officials announced yesterday that mandatory evacuation should be followed or there could be dire and deadly consequences. Now, Houston residents are told to stay put as it is too late to try to evacuate if they have not already done so. Those that have evacuated have avoided the potential of being stranded in flooded areas without the guarantee of rescue.

Houston officials are telling residents to stay put because it’s not safe anymore to try to hit the road to escape Hurricane Ike.

Galveston Island was flooded today by the storm surge caused by the coming hurricane, causing 22 foot waves to crash into the area.

Ike is expected to strengthen before hitting land late tonight (Friday) or early Saturday morning. Residents are all urged to follow state government requests to evacuate.

More on flooding in Texas

Hurricane Ike is expected to reach Texas early Saturday morning at a category 4 strength, experts have just announced. Mandatory evacuations are now being ordered all along the Texas Gulf Coast in order to reduce the number of potential casualties. Currently Ike is a Category 2 hurricane.
Roughly 15,000 people are being asked to leave Brazoria County in Texas though many are deciding to stay and wait out the storm. For more on mandatory evacuations in the area, please visit http://www.click2houston.com/news/4995385/detail.html

“One of the things that the public has to understand if they decide to stay, there will be a period of time during this storm when they will absolutely be on their own,” Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner said to the press today.

President Bush has already declared an emergency in Texas so that preparation funds could begin to enter the state. The area around Galveston City and Corpus Christi are being told that flooding is likely under the current storm predictions.

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Home and business owners are beginning to return to assess the damages inflicted by Hurricane Dolly yesterday. Roads are littered with debris and in some cases still flooded in the aftermath of the storm that dropped 6-12 inches of rain all over the state. Though the storm took off roofs, downed powerlines and flooded roadways, the levees around the Rio Grande were not breached. Officials are warning residents to stay at home for now until the powerlines can be fixed to remove any danger of electrocution.

Fourteen Texas counties have been declared disaster areas by the Texas Governor. They are seeking federal help currently.

Some communities have sustained more damage than others. In Laureles, north of Los Fresnos, the community has been flooded with two feet or more of water in places. Mailboxes barely stick out of the black waters.

More updates from the AP

Read more on Flood Damage Recovery

AP Photo/Matt Slocum