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Gulf Coast Residents Prepare For Flooding By Hurricane Ike

By 316Networks.com

Published: September 12, 2008

On Friday, floodwaters surged into the Galveston Island neighborhoods, although the center of Hurricane Ike is still more than 200 miles from landfall.

Forecasters expect Ike, now a Category 2 storm, to stregthen before its center makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday. The storm is now big enough to fill most of the Gulf of Mexico. The last storm to hit the Gulf Coast the size of Ike was three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina closed in on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Rougly 3.5 million people live in the storm's impact zone, amd according to the weather service reports, the worst of the storm is expected after it hits land.

The Galveston Bay shoreline is expected to be impacted by Ike; the wall of water could send floodwaters surging into Houston, more than 20 miles inland.

"All neighborhoods...and possibly entire costal communities,"says the weather service, "will be inundated during the peak storm tide." Representatives for the weather service warned that residents not heeding evacuation orders "will face certain death."

Farther inland, 4 million Houston-area residents were told to hunker down and stay home, while many government offices and schools prepared to close Friday in anticipation of the hurricane.

"We are only evacuating areas subject to a storm surge," said Judge Ed Emmett, Harris County's chief executive officer. "Yes, we know you will lose electricity. But you're not in danger of losing your life, so stay put."

Hurricane Ike's counter-clockwise rotation is expected to push water into Galveston Bay for hour upon hour, battering sea walls and structures. The final storm surge, the one that could exceed 20 feet in height, would come as the hurricane's eye crosses the shoreline.

Some residents have decided not to evacuate, despite warnings. Matteu Erchull of Galveston Island said, "We have a lot of faith in the seawall, and we have boards on the windows. Most people on the island live on second or third stories, so they don't have to worry about the water so much."

However, Michael Chertoff, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security disapproves. "Do not take this storm lightly," Chertoff said on Thursday afternoon. "This is not a storm to gamble with. It is large; it is powerful; it carries a lot of water."

Chertoff urged people not to succumb to "hurricane fatigue," referring to some Texas residents' concerns that authorities have overestimated Ike's potential impact.

"Unless you're fatigued with living, I suggest you want to take seriously a storm of this size and scale," he said.

The American Red Cross has already requested Southern Baptist relief organizations to be prepared to provide a total of 500,000 meals per day, while The Salvation Army is requesting another 70,000 meals.

The North American Mission Board (NAMB), along with state Baptist convention leaders, have taken the lead in organizing Christians all over the world responding with disaster such as floods, hurricanes and tornadoes.

NAMB has used Disaster Relief donations in order to meet human needs as a priority in sharing the Gospel. In order to support NAMB and assist with relief for those affected by Hurricane Ike, click here.

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