Effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas

Hurricane Ike caused major destruction in Texas with crippling and long-lasting effects, including death, widespread damage, and impacts to the price and availability of oil and gas. Hurricane Ike also had a long-term impact on the U.S. economy. Making landfall over Galveston as a Category 2 hurricane, at 2:10 a.m. CDT on September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike caused extensive damage in Texas, with sustained winds of 110 mph (180 km/h), a 22 ft (6.7 m) storm surge, and widespread coastal flooding.

More than 140,000 residents in the Texas Gulf Coast danger zones in Ike's path had failed to evacuate, partly due to fears of multi-hour traffic jams as during Hurricane Rita, but over 940 were rescued from rising waters, and nearly 2,000 rescued afterward. As of December 27, 2008, 37 people are known to have died in Texas due to Ike while hundreds are still missing.

The storm had come ashore hours before daybreak with 110-mph (175 km/h) winds and towering waves, pushing boats ashore, smashing many houses, flooding thousands of homes, knocking out windows in Houston's skyscrapers, uprooting trees, and cutting electric power to millions of customers (estimates range from 2.8 million to 4.5 million customers) for weeks or months.

Some people survived by punching holes in attics, climbing to rooftops or trees, using nearby boats, or floating on debris until reaching solid ground.

Afterward, an estimated 100,000 homes had been flooded in Texas, and numerous boats washed ashore. Galveston was declared uninhabitable, and Houston imposed a week-long nighttime curfew due to limited electric power.