Ike - Flooding Catastrophe Imminent As Thousands Ignore NHC Warning [PICTURES]

Those who can getting the hell out - but at a snail's pace.

Thousands stocking up on all they can at the last minute.

What did Haiti look like after Ike had left? Like this. [Above]

More photos from WashingtonPost.com here.

clipped from afp.google.com "All neighborhoods and possibly entire coastal communities will be inundated during the period of peak storm tide," the National Hurricane Center said, referring to land along the Galveston Bay. "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family, one- or two-story homes will face certain death," it said, warning of massive waves that would rapidly engulf such structures. Galveston Bay stretches 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland towards Houston, the key oil hub whose suburbs reach the bay's coast. The hurricane, pushing a storm surge towering 25 feet (7.6 meters) or higher, was expected to plough onto land late Friday or early Saturday with a direct hit on Galveston and metropolitan Houston, where the population tops 5.6 million. "Unless it's really bad, we don't want to go anywhere," said resident Leslie LeGrande. "There's more people here than I would have thought," she said.