Hurricane Ike Messes With Texas

Hurricane Ike roared ashore from the Gulf of Mexico this morning and made a mess of Galveston Island and Houston, Texas. Broken tree branches, siding from apartment buildings, and debris from shattered homes littered the streets in several coastal cities (see photo below).

The wind was blowing as fast as 110 miles per hour on Galveston Island. Ike wasn't just powerful, it was a huge hurricane, too. Its strong wind gusts could be felt as far as 275 miles from the hurricane's center, known as the eye of the storm. Officials warned that thousands of people living in homes near the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana could be without power for several weeks.

In Houston, the hurricane blew out windows in the state's tallest building, the JP Morgan Chase Tower. With the windows gone, the wind blew in and carried off papers that had been left on desks. Reporters for CNN found files marked "Confidential" in the streets.

As soon as the wind died down, rescue crews headed out to search for survivors. Dozens of people had called for help, saying they were trapped in flooded homes. Before Ike hit, Galveston officials had ordered everyone to evacuate the island, but thousands of people still stayed through the storm. Sedonia Owen was one of them. The 75-year-old was afraid that if she left her house, people would rob her home. She talked to an Associated Press reporter from her porch, surrounded by floodwater. She was holding a shotgun. "My neighbors told me, 'You've got my permission. Anybody who goes into my house, you can shoot them,'" she said.

At least 23 people died when Hurricane Ike hit Texas and Louisiana. The death toll had been far worse in the Caribbean islands, where hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike all ripped through one after the other. You can learn more about the devastation in Haiti in issue 3 of Current Events.

Watch what happens to a house near the shore as a hurricane intensifies from a tropical storm to a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.

UPDATE (Sept. 14): Actor Matt Damon and singer Wyclef Jean were in the Caribbean nation of Haiti today to call attention to the hurricane devastation there. Authorites say more than 800,000 people in Haiti are in desperate need of aid. In the U.S., the still powerful remnants of Hurricane Ike were blamed for more than 25 other deaths far from the Gulf Coast as wind and drenching rain spun into the Midwest.

Photos (top to bottom): A damaged building on the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston; Nicholas Lamon walks his bike through floodwater in Kemah, Texas; a street sign in Galveston shows how high the water reached amid Ike's storm surge; debris, including a sofa, covers a highway in Seabrook, Texas. -The Associated Press.

Comments

[Steve Cheng]

Typhoons and hurricanes are dangerous. As everyone knows, they always do a lot of destruction and it always take a long time to repair. In Taiwan, we spend a lot of money on repairs and a lot of people die every year. However, old people refuse to leave their homes even if they know they will die if they stay. Some people like to go hiking, fishing, and view the waves in such bad weather because they think it’s exciting. Our government always has to send people to rescue them and the officials sometimes die because of them. People think they are very irresponsible so we make them pay a fee for saving them.

[Ken Lin]

This weekend we had a strange typhoon called Sinlaku. It caused a lot of damage like the hurricane in America. The wind from Ike was blowing as fast as 110 miles per hour and did a lot of damage in Houston. The hurricane also caused flooding. Although officials ordered everyone to evacuate, many people stayed.

[Ray, Hseih]

There was also a typhoon in Taiwan from September 12 to 14. This typhoon was very strong and strange. Because the typhoon stayed on coast of northern Taiwan for about 7 hours, it rained a lot and many places were flooded. The typhoon’s wind was so strong that it blew down many things, such as trees and shop signs. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Some people were not afraid of the typhoon; they even went to the coast to see the beautiful views of spray. I think that is a stupid thing to do in a typhoon. Finally, the police warned the people and told them to go home or pay a fine.

[Hank Lin]

Do you think the typhoon that hit Taiwan last weekend was strong? If the answer is yes, then you can not imagine the hurricane that hit America last week. It was much stronger than the typhoon in Taiwan. Ike destroyed the windows in the state's tallest building. It brought not only wind but also rain. Some places were out of electricity and water. Have you ever tried to live without water? It is very inconvenient, isn’t it? When the wind died down, fire brigades had to rescue the people who were trapped in their houses.

[Carina Chen]

Natural disasters are very terrible to people all over the world. Natural disasters always cause a lot of damage. For example, earthquakes cause buildings to collapse and people lose their homes. Look at Taiwan, where there was just a typhoon. The strong wind and heavy rain destroyed many places. Trees and signs were blown away. Because of the heavy rain, many places at lower ground were flooded. Precious things were spoiled and can’t be used any more. Mudflows and landslides are the most terrible event. They destroy nature and threaten our lives. Earth is getting hurt because of humans. Maybe we can not avoid all of the natural disasters happen. But we can stop destroying the earth.

[michael shen]

Typhoons are really awful anywhere! What happened in Texas was so terrible. In Taiwan there were many typhoons this summer. Two days ago there was a typhoon in Taiwan, too. The winds were huge and the rain was big. Although typhoons are very destructive, they bring us a lot of water.

[Hannah Lin]

In Taiwan, we have lots of typhoons, so we know the danger and inconvenience of hurricanes. Every time before a typhoon comes, we have to buy food, find flashlights, and prevent the water from coming in. But on the other hand, hurricanes are good for us sometimes, because they can bring a lot of water. That’s really important for arid areas.

[paul tsai]

In my country we had a typhoon yesterday. It's called Sinlaku. It's strong, but the terrain protected the west side of the country. Our bridges were broken by the typhoon. When the typhoon came we had just had the Moon Festival. It is a day for family get together to eat moon cakes, barbecue, and look at the moon. It is on lunar calendar August 15th. Because of the typhoon my family can did not get together. The wind was so strong and it rained a lot. The worst thing is our clothes could not dry. And I have to go to school on Monday.

[Alan Hsiao]

Hurricane Ike was very dangerous. At the same time, typhoon SINLAKU hit Taiwan. Ike did a lot of damage in the U.S. SINLAKU also did a lot of damage in Taiwan. Ike made lots of people evacuate from their homes. In Taiwan, the typhoon stayed where it was for seven hours and it kept raining all day.

[Emilie]

I feel terrible about Hurricane Ike. I am recycling things and trying to help earn money for food, clothing, etc., for everyone in Texas. My goal is $3,000 dollars. Please help the poor people in Texas along with me.

[rissa]

I feel so bad for people who stayed for the storm. I hope they survived.

[Unknown]

Ike was terrible, and I hope that everyone in the United States will pitch in to help people in Texas get their homes back.

[Emily Liu]

Hurricanes are very terrible. They can cause much damage. In my country (I am from Taiwan, Japan), they are called typhoons. Sept. 14, 2008 is The Moon Festival. We have barbecues and eat moon cakes to celebrate this holiday. Sadly, we had a typhoon named "Sinlaku." It rained heavily. It destroyed many people's homes and no one has the mind or place to barbecue. We just worry about our houses, families, and other homeless people. I hope that there are few people hurt and that the government can help the homeless build their new houses and there are no more typhoons this year. Thanks to my dad and mom, we have a solid house that can protect us from typhoons.