As cities deal with little power, police report relative calm Feds focus searches in Galveston, Orange counties

At least 940 people have been rescued in aftermath

People walk to assess neighborhood damage in Pearland this morning after Hurricane Ike made landfall. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett urged residents to stay in their homes and conserve water today as officials assess the damage dealt by Ike. less People walk to assess neighborhood damage in Pearland this morning after Hurricane Ike made landfall. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett urged residents to stay in their homes and conserve water today as officials ... more Photo: Nick De La Torre, CHRONICLE Photo: Nick De La Torre, CHRONICLE Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close As cities deal with little power, police report relative calm 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

As Houston and the surrounding cities remained largely without power late Saturday night, local law enforcement reported relative calm.

Houston Police Department spokesman Officer Gabe Ortiz said there were no reports of looting in the city. The city's downtown remained close to the public, as work crews worked to clear shards of broken glass, uprooted trees and downed powerlines.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said late Saturday that federal officials are concerned about the potential death toll from Hurricane Ike, and are moving aggressively to rescue stranded residents, primarily in Orange and Galveston counties.

"We obviously are concerned," Chertoff told reporters Saturday night in Austin. "There may be people we find who didn't get out and will be in the rubble."

He applauded the response of state and local officials and said he could not yet put a dollar figure on the damage, except to say that it would likely rival some of the "legendary" damage figures of storms past.

"By any measure, it was a huge storm," he said.

At 10 p.m. today, the National Weather Service said, Ike, now downgraded to a tropical storm, had moved north of Texarkana and was on a path to Arkansas with maximum winds of 40 mph.

At least 940 people have been rescued, most from Orange and Galveston counties, Chertoff said. Emergency officials have millions of meals and bottles of water ready for distribution, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 20 teams ready to remove debris, he said.

About 40,000 people found refuge in 250 shelters all over the state, he said, and although some were full, others had plenty of capacity.

In Louisiana, winds and waters killed two people as coastal areas were inundated with a storm surge that crawled 30 miles inland, flooding tens of thousands of homes and making many roads impassable. Gov. Bobby Jindal said Saturday night that nearly 600 people had been rescued from flooded areas, including 116 nursing home residents moved out of Franklin because a nearby levee failed.

More than 13 hours after launching rescue and recovery missions in the hardest-hit portions of the Gulf Coast, officials had no estimate of the death toll for Hurricane Ike. In Galveston County, about 23,000 island residents are thought to have ignored the evacuation call and tried to weather the 110 mph storm.

Rescue teams with city of Galveston said they have helped 200 people in the last few days escape their flooded homes, said Pete Davis, chief of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol. Davis said rescuers helped an elderly woman and her family evacuate a home on the far west end of the island, where water appeared to swelled about 20 feet during the early morning storm.

One woman's death was confirmed by relatives late Saturday. Richard Dare said his cousin, 65-year-old Martha Ferguson, died between noon and 1 p.m. Saturday at a house in Galveston where she was staying with relatives.

In the Houston area, snapped trees and power polls and shattered the windows of city skycrapers, but despite the extensive property damage, Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said they were grateful the area had sustained so little loss of life.

So far, Emmett said he knew of one death that came from the storm, a woman who passed away while she was being transported between hospitals. The U.S. Coast Guard has saved at least 23 people, he said.

"I cannot tell you how our community has been blessed," he said. "We have avoided a lot of the tragedies that have been seen in other places."

In Harris County, where 250,000 people were advised to evacuate their homes in neighborhoods vulnerable to storm surge, the list of living, injured and — possibly — dead has yet to be compiled. Rescue workers had launched searches for the more than 100,000 area residents who ignored evacuation orders and attempted to ride out the storm in their homes.

At least one area death was directly attributed to the storm. Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Dan Norris said a woman was crushed by a tree as she slept in her home.

At midafternoon, Houston police said they were investigating two possible carbon monoxide poisoning-related deaths connected with improperly ventilated generators.

Memorial Hermann had seen six cases of carbon monoxide poisoning by 10 p.m. Saturday and treated four of those patients, hospital spokeswoman Lindsey Klingensmith said. The other two people benefited from being away from the poisonous gas, she said, and did not require treatment.

Those who have been rescued from high water or other emergencies have been taken to several shelters in Houston, although those are not yet open to the general public, a step emergency officials may take tomorrow or later.

Judging by a helicopter tour he took today, White said the hardest hit neighborhoods in the Houston area included Gulf Bank and Westmount Houston. Flooding was not as high as during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Homes along Brays Bayou that flooded then have not been overrun by water now.

As much of Houston and the outlaying cities in the path of Hurricane Ike prepared for a night without power, White encouraged residents to stay home, extending a curfew for a second day in areas ordered to evacuate.

White urged federal officials to help restore power to the 5 million people on the Gulf Coast who lost power during the hurricane, calling it a "national priority" at a press conference later. More than 3,000 electrical line repair workers had arrived in the city to help restore power, he said, but there was no timetable for when electricity would be restored.

White continued to urge caution and encouraged residents impacted by the storm to stay home. In Harris County neighborhoods, where 250,000 people were advised to evacuate before the storm, a curfew was extended for a second day, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

"This is no time to be out on the streets if you don't need to be," White said.

Power has been restored to a major water pumping station, White said, assuring that tap water could be clean enough to drink as early as noon Monday, although testing could take longer.

White said power was restored to the pumping station at 3:30p.m., and would take eight hours to build up to normal levels. He said city employees would need to conduct tests at over 50 sites to ensure it is safe for drinking. The longest test takes 36 hours.

White has consistently said there is no evidence that water became contaminated once the city's Lynchburg Station lost power, but he urged Houstonians to continue to conserve water and boil it for one minute before drinking.

"We have no evidence of contamination of the water supply, but we want to be very careful," White said.

On Saturday morning residents of Houston and its storm-stricken neighboring cities assessed damage from Ike, a Category 2 hurricane that snapped trees and power polls and shattered the windows of city skycrapers.

Downtown Houston was closed to the public today to enable the cleanup to begin.

Gov. Rick Perry announced that Galveston Island has been closed to all but emergency personnel to allow the search to take place.

In Galveston County, where fire personnel received 100 calls for help after they had shut down operations Thursday, city officials pleaded with the media not to photograph corpses.

Chertoff said more than 50 helicopters and other aircraft were flying as part of the massive search and rescue operation in Texas and Louisiana. He said 2.2 million Texans and approximately 130,000 Louisiana residents evacuated their homes on Ike's approach.

"We hope it's a small number," Chertoff said regarding possible hurricane deaths. "But we're going to have to wait and see."

The resistance to the evacuation calls surprised officials.

But, said Perry spokesman, Mark Miner, "This is a democracy. Local officials put out a very strong warning. . .But you can't force people to leave their homes."

In Chambers County officials launched boats to hunt survivors in Oak Island and Smith Point, communities that were submerged in 15 to 17 feet of water when Ike smashed ashore earlier today.

Chambers County spokesman Mike Kubik said many residents of the coastal county east of Houston ignored the calls to evacuate because of sour memories of Hurricane Rita's 2005 gridlocked evacuation.

Kubic said rescue workers will investigate an unconfirmed report that an Oak Island resident called for help, saying he was treading water on the second floor of his home but did not know how long he could continue.

In Brazoria County, where officials also worried about holdouts who refused to leave, emergency management officials this afternoon cautiously suggested the county may have escaped without fatalities or serious injuries.

Officials earlier estimated that up to 35 percent of residents in mandatory evacuation zones stayed behind.

"At least, we dodged the bullet on that," said Brazoria County Justice of the Peace Wayne DuBose. "But we took a big hit and there's a lot of damage everywhere."

Hurricane Ike's center hit Galveston Island at 2:10 a.m. today with 110 mph winds — a strong Category 2 hurricane. The winds propelled a 12.4 foot storm surge into the downtown area, leaving much of the district inundated in 6 to 7 feet of water.

Ike scoured the city's seawall, demolishing landmarks including the Balinese Room, a historic nightclub and one-time gambling establishment dating to the 1940s. Also destroyed were Murdoch's Pier and a Hooters restaurant, the latter said to have crashed into the sea at 1 a.m. with an explosive roar.

In Houston, Ike's damage was widespread, and included Reliant Stadium — leading to a cancellation of the Texan's Monday season-opener against Baltimore

Late this morning the Harris County Toll Road Authority closed the Houston Ship Channel Bridge for safety reasons, noting the bridge would reopen when winds subsided.

Houston Hobby airport officials said two runways are open, but no carrier has announced plans to resume flying.

Airport spokeswoman Marlene McClinton said Southwest Airlines has not scheduled any flights for Sunday and two other carriers have not yet decided whether to resume service.

Continental Airlines also suspended operations at Bush Intercontinental Airport until Monday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, company officials said. The cancellations include Continental Express and Continental Connection flights.

The airline is working closely with the Houston Airport system, as well as with city and county officials to reactivate the airport, officials said.

Post-Ike analysis today presented one happy fact: The hurricane could have been a lot worse.

Ike came ashore slightly east of where it officially was expected, meaning that its northeast quadrant — and the largest surge — impacted Bolivar Peninsula and points up the Texas coast.

Thus, what was expected to be a 15-20 storm surge on Galveston's seawall checked in at little more than 12 feet.

Fire and EMS crews were back on the street by 9 a.m. after Ike's powerful winds forced them to suspend services earlier this morning, Houston Fire Department Executive Assistant Chief Rick Flanagan said. The city's 911 service has received 4,700 calls in the past 24 hours, and crews were working as quickly as possible to answer them, he said.

However, he noted the same downed power lines, billboards and trees that made driving hazardous for civilians was impeding their ability to reach some locations.

CenterPoint spokesman Floyd LeBlanc said downtown Houston and the Medical Center, both of which have underground power lines, were the only large areas with reliable electricity. He said CenterPoint had braced for more than half its customer base losing service, and full restoration could take "several weeks."

CenterPoint said late Saturday it had restored power to about 112,000 customers, mostly in the western portion of its service area, and a pumping station that is a major source of water for Houston. The company said 1.99 million of its 2.26 million customers were still without power.

Entergy spokesman David Caplan said 96 percent of its customers throughout its service area — or 380,000 - are in the dark. Two generating stations in Bridge City and Willis are down, so they and transmission lines have to be back up before crews can focus on restoring power to customers. Caplan says the process could take weeks.

In Galveston, Fire Chief Michael Varela, speaking to reporters in the San Luis Hotel, where the city's mayor and emergency personnel are staying, said they would respond to needs on the west end of the island first, since it was hardest hit.

At least eight to 10 feet of water was on the streets when they ceased operations, and the second half of the storm, which came after that point, was far worse than the first, he said.

Asked how hard he believed Galveston had been hit, Varela said: "For us, one to 10, I'd say it's a 10."

White said that in Ike's aftermath, he was impressed to see Houstonians out with chainsaws and axes, helping each other clear debris from streets, lawns and homes.

"I ask neighbors to give comfort to their neighbors, to reach out to them, to give assistance, and to let them know they are not alone," he said. "You can't control life, but you can control how you react to it. That's the spirit of Houston."

Chronicle Reporters Eric Berger, Lynn Cook, Carolyn Feibel, Mary Flood, Cindy George, Cindy Horswell, Kristen Hays, Terri Langford, Dale Lezon, Jennifer Latson, Jennifer Leahy, Ericka Mellon, Bradley Olson, James Pinkerton, Allan Turner and Susan Carroll.

liz.peterson@chron.com

carolyn.feibel@chron.com