Texas rushes Ike relief as health crisis looms

GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials warned onMonday of a possible health crisis and urged thousands to leavethe island city of Galveston, where relief supplies were scarceafter the onslaught of Hurricane Ike.

CNN reported on its Web site that 27 people were killed byIke and its remnants in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana,Missouri and Ohio.

In Houston, millions of people had to cope without power asthe U.S. energy hub and fourth-largest city struggled to returnto normal.

About 2,000 people have been plucked from flooded areas byhelicopters and boats in the largest rescue effort in Texashistory as search teams scoured battered communities along thecoast and Galveston Bay.

President George W. Bush will view storm-damaged areas inTexas on Tuesday. He still is trying to rebuild his image as adisaster manager after being widely criticized for a botchedrelief effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Galveston, a city of 60,000, was decimated when Ike madelandfall on Saturday morning and 15,000 to 20,000 peopleremained in quickly degrading conditions.

"There's nothing to come here for," Galveston Mayor LydaAnn Thomas told residents still on the island. "Please leave."

She called in a cruise ship to house recovery teams. Thecity was bringing in a refrigerated mobile morgue.

"We cannot accommodate people who are getting sick," saidGalveston City Manager Steven LeBlanc. "You have the potentialfor a health crisis."

More than 4 million people, several oil refineries and manybusinesses around Houston remained without power. Governmentagencies will distribute ice, water and packaged meals fromtractor-trailers.

Long lines snaked around the few gas stations that wereoperating in and around Houston, where the car is king, butofficials said tankers were rolling in with fuel. Even withgas, many stations remained without power.

"Tanker trucks are coming in to make sure service stationsare given fuel," Ed Emmett, chief executive for Harris County,which includes Houston, told reporters.

The relief roll-out appeared to defuse tensions that hadflared between the Federal Emergency Management Agency andlocal officials after Houston Mayor Bill White vowed to holdFEMA accountable for delivering on its commitments.

'FEMA AIN'T BEEN BY'

Officials from Texas -- which sheltered some 200,000evacuees when Katrina devastated New Orleans -- pressed forequal treatment from federal aid agencies.

"I have asked the president and the administration to justtreat us as fairly as they treated Louisiana back duringKatrina," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "Texans will take care ofthe rest."

FEMA said it will deliver 7.5 million meals over the nextfew days, along with 5.1 million gallons (19.8 million litres)of water, 19.2 million pounds (8,700 tonnes) of ice and 80,000tarpaulins.

Residents of Texas and Louisiana are in for tough times,FEMA Administrator David Paulison said.

"Some people will be out of their homes for not only weeks,but months," he said.

In Galveston, shocked and bewildered residents staggeredthrough the streets as food and water grew scarce. There waslittle sign of any federal relief efforts.

"FEMA ain't been by, nobody," said disabled retiree VivianMatthews, who was stranded at her flooded apartment for twodays. "They don't give a damn if we live or die."

Four deaths were reported by officials in Galveston --scene of the worst U.S. weather disaster when a hurricanekilled more than 8,000 people in 1900. One person was killed inthe Houston suburb of Pasadena, the mayor said.

'VERY FRUSTRATED'

Bush said Texas residents are "very frustrated" by the slowpace of recovery but "my message will be that we hear you andwe'll work as hard and fast as we can to help you get yourlives back up to normal."

Power outages were the main obstacle to recovery andauthorities have warned that some people could be without fordays. Electricity is the lifeblood of Gulf Coast refineriesthat process about a quarter of the country's fuel.

CenterPoint Energy reported it had restored power to500,000 customers but about 1.6 million remained in the dark,including big Houston-based corporations.

U.S. crude oil futures shrugged off supply concerns andwere almost $2 lower at $93.74 a barrel as the Asian tradingday began.

Ike caused minimal damage to oil refineries along the GulfCoast. Companies are preparing to restart operations at the 14refineries in Texas and Louisiana that remained shut due toIke, the Energy Department said.

Houston, home to a booming economy thanks to energy demand,was still under a dusk-to-dawn curfew due to lack of power.

Houston's two main airports resumed partial operations. Butwith debris still littering its streets and windows blown outof office buildings, it could be weeks before the city of morethan 2 million people returns to business as usual.

(Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore, Erwin Seba,Eileen O'Grady, Anna Driver, Bruce Nichols and Ed Stoddard inHouston and Randall Mikkelsen in Washington; Editing by JohnO'Callaghan)