On the morning of September 13, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast near Galveston Bay, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island. People in low-lying areas who had not heeded evacuation orders, in single-family one- or two-story homes, were warned by the weather service that they may "face certain death" from the overnight storm surge.
In regional Texas towns, electrical power began failing before 8 p.m. CDT, leaving millions without power (estimates range from 2.8 million to 4.5 million customers). In Galveston, by 4 p.m. CDT on September 12, the rising storm surge began overtopping the 17-ft (5.2 m) Galveston Seawall, which faces the Gulf of Mexico; waves had been crashing along the seawall earlier, from 9 a.m. CDT.
Although Seawall Boulevard is elevated above the shoreline, many areas of town slope down behind the seawall to the lower elevation of Galveston Island. Even though there were advance evacuation plans, Mary Jo Naschke, spokesperson for the city of Galveston, estimated that (as of Friday morning) a quarter of the city's residents paid no attention to calls for them to evacuate, despite predictions that most of Galveston Island would suffer heavy flooding storm tide.
By 6 p.m. Friday night, estimates varied as to how many of the 58,000 residents remained, but the figures of remaining residents were in the thousands. Widespread flooding included downtown Galveston: six ft (2 m) deep inside the Galveston County Courthouse, and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was flooded.
Hurricane Ike made landfall at 2:10 a.m. Sept. 13, 2008, with the eye coming ashore over the east end of Galveston Island with sustained winds of 110 mph, gusts of 125 mph and an eye that was 46 miles wide.
The largest storm surge has been estimated at 17 feet - and possibly 20 feet in some areas.
Urban Search and Rescue task forces rescued more than 3,540 Texans and helped an additional 5,798 people evacuate from extremely dangerous situations.
234 shelters were opened across the state, providing refuge for 40,614 evacuees
An estimated 26,244 heavy plastic sheets were installed as part of the USACE Blue Roof program.
Hurricane Ike is the third most destructive hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States.
Disaster assistance for Texans affected by the storm has reached nearly $2 billion.
More than $443.5 million in disaster assistance for housing, disaster-related needs and disaster unemployment assistance is in the hands of Texans for Hurricane Ike recovery.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than $476 million in low-interest disaster loans.
More than $583.5 million has been billed to FEMA for short-term, transitional sheltering in hotels/motels for eligible applicants. Some 4,602 eligible individuals and families are still participating in the program.
More than $308 million in public assistance funding has been obligated for local government infrastructure repair and debris removal costs.
FEMA has provided temporary manufactured housing for 2,617 applicants or 72 percent of the 3,648 applicants eligible for direct housing assistance.
More than 20 million cubic yards or 85 percent of eligible debris has been cleared from disaster-affected counties.
There are 13 FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Centers open in affected counties, offering face-to-face assistance. More than 139,000 visits have been made to the centers.
Hurricane Ike was the most intense storm in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.
The storm had the highest Integrated Kinetic Energy, the measure of storm surge destructive potential, of any Atlantic storm in history.
More than 11,000 building permits have been issued by the City of Galveston since Hurricane Ike made landfall.
Damages from Ike are estimated at $27 billion (2008 USD), if the estimates are true, Ike will be the fourth costliest Atlantic hurricane of all time and third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time.
*Sources: Wikipedia.org, FEMA, NOAA and The Galveston County Daily News
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