NVDL: With Ike strengthening just prior to landfall, and targetting the very vulnerable Texas coastline around Galveston (this includes an inland area stretching over 15 miles), storm surge of 20 feet is expected to cause major damage and loss of life.
Telegraph: One of the early casualties of the storm was a 584 foot (178 metre) cargo ship in the Gulf. Because of high winds, the Air Force and Coast Guard aborted plans to send aircraft out to rescue 22 crewmen adrift on the stalled freighter in rough seas 90 miles offshore.
NVDL: Jeepers. So those 22 crewman are out there on a ship and they're on their own?
Hurricaine Ike is roaring towards Texas and on the cusp of strenghtening to a "potentially catastrophic" category 3 storm, forecasters and politicians have warned.
A total of 90,000 people have opted to stay in their homes to brave the storm, which has sent a surge of five metre waves ahead of it that has already crashed through the seawall at Galveston and caused widespread flooding in low-lying areas.
With winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph), authorities fear it could be the worst storm to hit Texas in nearly 50 years.
"Our nation is facing what is by any means a potentially catastrophic hurricane," said US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
"This certainly falls in the category of pretty much a worst case scenario."
"When I woke up, my bed was floating in the house," said David Daubuisson, a handyman who narrowly escaped from his home in Bayou Vista, Galveston. "I just took what I could and got out."
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