Hurricane Ike barreled through Texas last week, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and leaving nearly 2 million people in Houston and elsewhere without power and thousands short of food, water, and gasoline. Nearly 2,000 people needed to be rescued from Gulf Coast towns after they ignored evacuation orders. At least 17 people died in Texas alone, and authorities said financial losses could be as high as $18 billion. “I’m so sad for all those families,” said Coast Guard rescuer Kyle Chapman, surveying the damage over Galveston Island. “All those homes gone—just disappeared.”
The hurricane also pummeled Bolivar Peninsula, near the Louisiana border, bringing 110-mph winds and a 15-foot storm surge before traveling north, eventually bringing storms and flooding this week to the Ohio Valley. On the 27-mile peninsula, houses were scattered and debris was strewn across land and water. In Galveston, beach homes were destroyed while remnants of boats and cars and even cow carcasses clogged streets and waterways. Local officials estimated that half the city’s tax base had been swept away.
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