Hurricane Ike threatens Texas with wall of water

Hurricane Ike closed in on the Texas coast yesterday, pushing a wall of water that weather officials warned could bring certain death to those who did not heed mandatory evacuation orders.

Waters rose rapidly along the Texas coast as Ike moved within hours of striking low-lying areas near Houston with a possible six-metre storm surge in what may be the worst storm to hit Texas in nearly 50 years.

The National Weather Service warned that people in coastal areas could face "certain death" from the storm's massive storm surge.

Ike was a Category 2 storm with 165 kph winds as it moved on a course that passes directly over Houston - the nation's fourth-largest city. Ike was expected to come ashore as a dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-step intensity scale with winds of more than 178 kph, the National Hurricane Centre said.

As high waves pounded mostly evacuated coastal communities, the Coast Guard said a 584-foot freighter with 22 people aboard was stranded without power 90 miles southeast of Galveston. Sea conditions were too treacherous to attempt rescue.

Hundreds of thousands fled the island city of Galveston and low-lying counties under mandatory evacuation orders and authorities urged holdouts to move before Ike's winds started to make car travel dangerous.

"Leave now," said Ed Emmett, chief administrator for Harris County, which encompasses most Houston and its environs. "The storm surge is stronger and it's important that people understand that this really is a life or a death matter."

US crude oil futures jumped $2 to near $103 a barrel as traders eyed the potential for Ike's massive storm surge to swamp low-lying refineries along the Gulf Coast that process about 20 per cent of the nation's fuel. Weather forecasters at Planalytics saw "major and long-term damage likely at the major refining cities".

In Galveston - site of a 1900 hurricane that was the deadliest weather disaster in US history - residents nervously eyed the seashore as Ike's waters bashed over the sea wall and crept into clusters of houses perched on stilts. "I've never seen it like that before. I'm scared, I'm leaving," said motel manager Roy Patel. He had boarded up the office of the Economy Motel on the sea front and was headed to the mainland by car.

In central Houston, the administrative hub of the nation's oil industry around 80 kilometres inland from Galveston, businesses closed and boarded up windows on Thursday night in preparation for possible hurricane-force winds and flooding. But officials said most residents should "shelter in place" since the city is some 50 feet above sea level.

US President George W. Bush said he was "deeply concerned" about the storm and the fate of his fellow Texans.

"It is a major storm headed towards a large population centre," Mr Bush told reporters at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.

Ike comes just 10 days after Hurricane Gustav barrelled into the Louisiana coast and sent two million people fleeing but largely spared a New Orleans still struggling with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

But in this active hurricane season that has had the Atlantic and Gulf coasts on high alert, Ike posed its own challenges because of its large scope, which was bigger than Katrina's. Hurricane-force winds could extend out up to 195 kilometres.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) yesterday, the hurricane centre said in its latest advisory Ike was about 320 kilometres southeast of Galveston. It was moving west-northwest at 19 kph.