By Tim Gaynor
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands ofpeople fled coastal areas in the path of Hurricane Ike onThursday as the storm gathered strength on a collision coursewith the Texas Gulf Coast, threatening to swamp populous areasaround Houston under a massive wave of water.
Ike was a Category 2 storm with 100-mph (160-kph) winds andlikely will come ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday asa potentially dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-stepintensity scale with winds of more than 111 mph (178 kph), theU.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm menaced Houston, the fourth-most populous U.S.city and hub of the oil industry. Many remembered the chaotichighway evacuation of 2 million residents during Hurricane Ritain 2005, which ended up sparing the city.
Although the city could see hurricane-force winds,officials called for most residents to "shelter in place.""They are in a safer, better position if they stay where theyare," Houston Mayor Bill White said.
Because of Ike's wide scope -- it is larger geographicallythan Hurricane Katrina was in 2005 -- it could bring a stormsurge of up to 20 feet (6 metres), normally associated withlarger storms.
Ike "poses a significant storm surge hazard," the hurricanecentre said in its 11 p.m. EDT (4:00 a.m. British time Friday)advisory.
The storm arrives just 10 days after Hurricane Gustavforced 2 million people to flee the Louisiana coast andthreatened a New Orleans still reeling from Katrina'sdevastation.
"The most important message I can send is, do not take thisstorm lightly," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary MichaelChertoff said in Washington. "This is not a storm to gamblewith."
OIL PLATFORMS SPARED
With the storm's track taking it away from the bulk of4,000 offshore platforms that produce about a quarter of U.S.oil supply, U.S. crude oil futures dipped as low as $100.10 abarrel, the lowest level since early April.
Residents of Galveston -- an island city of 280,000 about50 miles (80 km) south of Houston -- were ordered to evacuate,along with other low-lying counties. Some 600,000 people hadleft, the state said.
"We're getting up out of here," said Nykera Allen, astudent who was loading up her car to drive to San Antonio incentral Texas. "They're going to shut the lights and the wateroff and that's not a good situation."
The hurricane's current track would see it hit the Texascoast near Freeport in Brazoria County, just south ofGalveston. It could be the worst storm to hit the Texas coastsince Hurricane Carla came ashore near Corpus Christi in 1961.
The coastal areas under threat from Ike are lined with oilrefineries that process about 25 percent of the nation's fuel.Some stretches boast resorts and million-dollar beachfronthomes.
'A SURGE TSUNAMI'
New Orleans, where Katrina's storm surge flattened leveesand flooded 80 percent of the city, appeared to be out of Ike'spath, but is still under a tropical storm warning.
President George W. Bush declared an emergency exists inLouisiana due to the storm, ordering federal aid to helpdisaster relief in the state, the White House said.
While New Orleans is below sea level, downtown Houston isabout 50 feet (15 metres) above sea level, but the city's flat,expansive terrain still leaves it vulnerable to flooding.
One Texas official likened the potential wall of water to atidal wave, not just a storm surge.
"This is a surge tsunami," said Jack Colley, of the stateemergency management team. "This is not rising water."
In its latest advisory, the hurricane centre said Ike was445 miles (715 km) east-southeast of Corpus Christi and about340 miles (545 km) southeast of Galveston. It was movingwest-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).
In Galveston -- site of a 1900 hurricane that was thedeadliest weather disaster in U.S. history -- lines of cars,buses and trucks crowded onto a bridge to leave the island.Others without transportation waited for buses to carry them toshelters.
As always, hold-outs hunkered down to weather the storm.
"I'm just going to batten down and not worry about it,"said Keith Andrews, a shipyard worker. "If the Lord wants you,he's going to take you anyway."
(Additional reporting by Anna Driver in Houston and JimForsyth in San Antonio; writing by Chris Baltimore; Editing byMary Milliken and Peter Cooney)
