Hurricane/Cyclone/Typhoon Journal Entry

Ike Batters Caribbean and Texas (September 13, 2008)

Fierce Hurricane Ike roared out of the Atlantic Ocean and slammed the Caribbean region and the Gulf Coast of Texas this week. The storm battered Haiti, Cuba, and other parts of the Caribbean before recharging over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and taking aim at the Texas coast.

About a million people fled their homes along the Texas coast as the monstrous, 550-mile (880-km) wide hurricane approached with sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kmh). The massive storm made landfall near Galveston. Rescue workers worried about the fate of thousands of people who decided to brave out the storm and didn't leave their homes. At least three people were killed in the state.

Storm surges as high as 13.5 feet were reported along the coast. The surging waters washed out major roads and damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings in the Galveston area. The hurricane also hit hard in Houston, the nation's fourth biggest city. Glass from the the state's tallest skyscraper rained down on downtown streets as screaming winds whipped through the city. More than 2.6 people in Texas and Louisiana lost electrical power.

Earlier in the week, Ike triggered widespread floods and spread more misery on Haiti, killed at least 73 people. Most of the victims died after a river overflowed its banks in the mountain town of Cabaret. The deaths pushed the toll in the hard-hit nation from the recent string of powerful storms past 300.

Ike then ripped across Cuba. The hurricane slammed the Cuban coast with waves up to 50 feet (15 meters) high. Nearly a million people were evacuated from their homes as the dangerous storm approached. The hurricane damaged or destroyed over 1,000 homes and touched off a new round of floods on the island, still reeling from the recent strike by Hurricane Gustav. At least four people lost their lives.

Ike is the ninth named storm of what's shaping up as a very busy 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.