Ike strikes but Texans put their faith in God instead of National Hurricane Centre [LATEST TRACK + LATEST SATELLITE PHOTO]

Hurricane Ike has strengthened and continues to strengthen as predicted just prior to landfall. Sustained winds are gusting at 110mph, up from 100mph not long ago. Right now the eye of Ike is 70 miles south east of Galveston.

Ike is making landfall on the Freeport side of Galveston. Currently Ike remains a strong Cat 2 system.

clipped from news.yahoo.com HOUSTON - Hurricane Ike, a colossal storm nearly as big as Texas itself, battered the coast Friday, threatening to obliterate waterfront towns and give the skyscrapers, refineries and docks of the nation's fourth-largest city their worst pounding in a generation. But even as towering waves crashed over the 17-foot Galveston seawall and floodwaters rose in low-lying areas, it became clear that many of the 1 million coastal residents who had been ordered to get out refused to do so and were taking their chances. Authorities in three counties alone said roughly 90,000 stayed behind, despite a warning from forecasters that many of those in one- or two-story homes faced "certain death." "I believe in the man up there, God," said William Steally, a 75-year-old retiree who planned to ride out the storm in Galveston without his wife or sister-in-law. "I believe he will take care of me."