Rescuers Searching for People Left in Hurricane's Wake

Sept. 14, 2008 -- Crews navigated debris-strewn streets Sunday to reach people still stuck in some of the thousands of homes flooded by Hurricane Ike. Authorities imposed a curfew in Houston and warned it would be weeks before the nation's fourth-largest city is fully back up and running.

Heavy morning rains hampered rescue efforts in the hardest-hit areas of the Texas and Louisiana coasts, while those who had evacuated and tried to return to the Houston area found interstates and streets blocked by flooding and debris.

Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans -- 140,000 by some estimates who ignored orders to flee ahead of the storm -- from another night amid the destruction. Eight deaths had been blamed on the storm, and authorities worried the toll could rise.

"I'm worried about my mother's medical condition. We haven't been able to get to anyone at the clinic on the phone," said Zee Ellis, whose mother, 80-year-old Ruth Willis, fled Houston with her family ahead of the storm.

As they waited out a downpour along Interstate 10 on Sunday morning, Zee Ellis said her mother's cancer treatments had been interrupted as they had moved from place to place, looking for shelter and electricity.

President Bush planned to travel to Texas on Tuesday to express sympathy and lend support to the storm's victims. He asked people who evacuated before the hurricane to listen to local authorities before trying to return home.

In Houston, a weeklong curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. was imposed because most of the city was still without power. Highways, darkened streetlights and pooled water made it difficult to drive.

"In the interest of safety, we're asking people to not be out in the streets in their vehicles or on foot," Chief Harold Hurtt said.

In Hackberry, La., about 15 miles from the coast, workers moved a large shrimp boat out of the highway with a bulldozer, but the team had to stop because of strong currents in the floodwaters and difficulty in seeing the roadway.

"You can't see the sides of the road, and if you left the road, you'd just be swept away," National Guard spokeswoman Sgt. Rebekah Malone said. About 20 people had been evacuated by boat in Hackberry.

Residents of the tiny community of Seabrook, Texas, near Johnson Space Center, were met by a roadblock as they tried to return home, and police officers standing in the rain turned them away. At times the line was six to 12 cars deep.

"It's gonna be a while," an officer shouted to one man as he made a U-turn. "Just listen to the news."

"Seabrook is a disaster area: no sewer, no infrastructure. It really isn't safe," said officer Charlie Skinner. "It's making residents pretty upset. I understand, but ... There's an order signed by the mayor. We can't let anybody in."

Overnight, a team of paramedics, rescue dogs and structural engineers fanned out under a nearly full moon on a finger of land in Galveston Bay. To the northeast, Coast Guard crews also worked into early Sunday morning, pulling a half-dozen people out of Bridge City before rescue missions were suspended for the night.

On one side of the Galveston peninsula, two barges had broken loose and smashed into homes. Everything from red vinyl barstools to clay roof tiles littered the landscape.

The second floor of some homes sat where the first had been before Ike's surge washed it out, and only framed remained below the roofs of others, opening a clear view from front yard to back.

Eight deaths were blamed on the storm -- five in Texas, two in Louisiana and one in Arkansas. Authorities said Sunday three people were found dead in Galveston, including one person found in a submerged vehicle near the airport. Another person died in Arkansas when a tree fell on his mobile home as the remnants swept through.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office said 940 people had been saved by nightfall Saturday, but that thousands had made distress calls the night before. Another 600 were rescued from flooding in Louisiana.