Hurricane Ike caused major destruction in Texas with crippling and long-lasting effects, including death, widespread damage, and impacts to the price and availability of oil and gas. Hurricane Ike also had a long-term impact on the U.S. economy.Ike's effect on U.S. economy Making landfall over Galveston as a Category 2 hurricane, at 2:10 a.m. CDT on September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike caused extensive damage in Texas, with sustained winds of , a storm surge, and widespread coastal flooding.

More than 140,000 residents in the Texas Gulf Coast danger zones in Ike's path had failed to evacuate, partly due to fears of multi-hour traffic jams as during Hurricane Rita, but over 940 were rescued from rising waters, and nearly 2,000 rescued afterward. As of December 27, 2008, 37 people are known to have died in Texas due to Ike while hundreds are still missing.Texas in 2008: Ike dominated news like no other Jeff Carlton - The Associated Press

The storm had come ashore hours before daybreak with 110-mph (175 km/h) winds and towering waves, pushing boats ashore, smashing many houses, flooding thousands of homes, knocking out windows in Houston's skyscrapers, uprooting trees, and cutting electric power to millions of customers (estimates range from 2.8 million to 4.5 million customers) for weeks or months.

Some people survived by punching holes in attics, climbing to rooftops or trees, using nearby boats, or floating on debris until reaching solid ground.

Afterward, an estimated 100,000 homes had been flooded in Texas, and numerous boats washed ashore. Galveston was declared uninhabitable, and Houston imposed a week-long nighttime curfew due to limited electric power.

Hurricane preparations

On September 8, Texas State Governor Rick Perry declared 88 Texas state counties a disaster area in preparation for Hurricane Ike, expected to hit the Texas coast as early as Saturday morning, which included placing 7,500 Texas Military Forces troops on standby. The Texas County of Brazoria called for voluntary evacuation and Matagorda County called for mandatory evacuation as did the County of Brazoria for zip code 77541 and the city of Lake Jackson. Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order starting at noon September 11.Bloomberg

On September 10, U.S. President George W. Bush made an emergency declaration for Texas in advance of Hurricane Ike, making more federal help available for preparations and evacuations.

State rural water associations activated mutual aid networks to prepare for the landfall of Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike while still providing assistance to areas impacted by Hurricane Gustav. The Texas Rural Water Association held meetings with state agencies on Tuesday, September 9, to plan for landfall along the Texas gulf coast.

On September 11, forecasting models began to show Ike making landfall just south of Galveston. City Manager Steve LeBlanc late Wednesday issued a mandatory evacuation order for the low lying west end of Galveston Island. Later, the mandatory evacuation order was extended to the entire island of Galveston, as well as low-lying areas around Houston, Texas.Galveston, part of Houston evacuated ahead of Ike Accessed September 11, 2008. Mandatory evacuations were not restricted to the Houston and Galveston areas only. Mandatory evacuations were also ordered for Jefferson, Orange, and Chambers counties located east of Houston. Additionally, mandatory evacuations were ordered for residents with special needs and those registered with 211 in Jasper and Newton counties. Voluntary evacuations were in effect for Hardin and Tyler as well as the remainder of Newton and Jasper counties.

Also on September 11, at 8:19 p.m. (CDT), the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston, TX issued a strongly worded bulletin, regarding storm surge along the shoreline of Galveston Bay. The bulletin advised residents living in single-family homes in some parts of coastal Texas may face "certain death" if they do not heed orders to evacuate. Reports said as many as 40 percent of Galveston's citizens may have not paid attention to the warnings. It was feared to be much the same in Port Arthur.

The prices of crude oil and gas increased in the expectation of damage to some of the numerous oil refineries along the South Texas coast, or at least delays in production from the oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Surge measurements

Landfall had been predicted near Freeport, Texas, by the National Hurricane Center, as of Wednesday, September 10, 2008. However, the actual landfall was further east, over the east end of Galveston Island (near Texas City, TX), with the eye centered over Galveston Bay. Because some winds blew from the north at Galveston, water was pushed back out into the Gulf, and the actual storm surge there was muted to , rather than the original prediction of over as with a west-end landfall, which would have pushed more water into Galveston Bay, being a channel bay.

As of September 13, 2008, the highest storm surge had been noted at Sabine Pass at , the highest surge ever recorded at that station, and Ike also brought on the record for greatest storm surge ever seen with any Category 2 hurricane. However, Bolivar Peninsula, at the entrance to Galveston Bay, was nearer to the eastern side of the eye. The morning high tide (on 2008-09-13), adding , occurred at 4:14am CDT at the Galveston Bay entrance.

The total eastern storm tide was then nearly by landfall at 2:10am, with higher waves on top.

Aftermath On the night of September 13, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast near Galveston Bay, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island(near Texas City).

People in low-lying areas who had not heeded evacuation orders, in single-family one- or two-story homes, had been warned by the weather service that they "faced certain death" in the overnight storm surge.

In regional Texas towns, electrical power began failing before 8p.m. CDT, leaving more than 3 million people without power. In addition, grocery store shelves in the Houston area were left empty.

Rainfall estimates indicated that 2-day rainfall totals from mid-day Friday through mid-day Saturday exceeded in parts of both northern Harris County and southern Montgomery County, with a multi-county area receiving at least of rainfall.

Bolivar Peninsula and southern Chambers County

Bolivar Peninsula got the strong side of the storm; as it located just east across the water from the landfall site on Galveston Island, it had been submerged under the storm tide. Water from the storm surge was over the first floor of many houses.

Most, if not all of the communities previously located on the Bolivar Peninsula, which together with Galveston Island separates Galveston Bay from the Gulf of Mexico, were utterly devastated. Based on an extensive aerial survey conducted on the afternoons of Saturday, September 13 and Sunday, September 14, very little remains west of the community of High Island. The area of total or near-total destruction includes Caplen, Port Bolivar, and the area surrounding Gregory Park. Most, if not all of the structures that had been situated along the length of SH 87 west of High Point, as well as Loop 108 on the western edge of Bolivar, were destroyed.

Crystal Beach, a populous community located roughly at the midpoint of the peninsula, was submerged and destroyed; waves and wind pounded houses, and even some houses elevated on 14-ft (4.3–m) stilts rolled into the waters. The tiny beachfront community of Gilchrist, which sat astride the north-facing Rollover Pass, was completely swept away, save for only a few homes. One of these homes, the only one in its neighborhood to remain intact (although it was rendered uninhabitable), attracted widespread media interest after images of it began to appear in newspapers and on television. At least six bodies were found in an extensive search.

Two flood water sensors in Chambers County, Texas, survived Ike's storm surge, while those on eastern Bolivar Peninsula were left inoperable during the hurricane. Along the eastern shores of Galveston Bay surge heights were measured at and a measurement along SH 124 measured .Ike's Storm Surge Revealed Houston Weather Blog - ABC13 News (KTRH houston) - ABC13.Com - October 26, 2008Hurricane Ike Storm Surge Chambers County Houston Weather Blog - ABC13 News (KTRH houston) - ABC13.Com - October 26, 2008 Massive amounts of surge carried debris, largely from Bolivar Peninsula and southern Chambers County were left along the northern coast of Rollover Pass.

There is controversy whether houses near the beach are allowed to be rebuilt if they are destroyed by such storms.

Galveston

In Galveston, by 4 p.m. CDT (2100 UTC) on September 12, the rising storm surge began overtopping the Galveston Seawall, which faces the Gulf of Mexico; waves had been crashing along the seawall earlier, from 9a.m. CDT. Although Seawall Boulevard is elevated above the shoreline, many areas of town slope down behind the seawall to the lower elevation of Galveston Island.

The historic Balinese Room, a former mafia-run nightclub on a pier that had extended into the Gulf of Mexico and had withstood many serious storms, was swept away as Ike's eye crossed over the eastern half of Galveston Island. The elevated structure, a pier, which had hosted performers ranging from Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and George Burns to Groucho Marx and Sammy Davis, Jr., had recently been renovated and returned to profitability after years of neglect and disrepair, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

None of the many wooden piers that gave Galveston much of its unique character survived the landfall of Hurricane Ike. In addition to the Balinese Room, Murdoch's, Hooters and the 61st Street Pier were all completely destroyed. Murdoch's Pier was rebuilt and reopened in October 2009, while Hooters Galveston (housed in the former Ocean Grill building) was not rebuilt; the site remains vacant as of 2011. A new Hooters was reopened in November 2017 off 61st Street south of I-45 instead. The 61st Street Pier was rebuilt and reopened in 2010. Seawall Boulevard, which runs the entire length of the seawall several meters above the popular beaches adjoining the Gulf, was littered with the debris of these and other structures.

The landmark Flagship Hotel, which sat on deep concrete pylons, was seriously damaged, but no one was injured, and while an early survey indicated the structure would be salvageable; however that proved to be untrue, and the hotel was demolished in 2011. Some of the hotel's siding was peeled off by the storm (this occurred during Hurricane Alicia in 1983), venting at least one top-floor guest suite to the open air, and the elevated ramp permitting vehicles to access the hotel's lower level from Seawall Boulevard fell into the Gulf.

The seemingly protected back side of the island also suffered heavy damage to tourist areas. The Lone Star Flight Museum suffered massive damage as the storm surge washed over the airport and though all the aircraft hangars (not just the museums) with about of water. All the airplanes, except those that flew out before the storm, were damaged from moderate to severe, but the worst was the complete destruction of the "Aviation Hall of Fame" with numerous personal items of aviation's greatest pioneers. Conversely, Moody Gardens was built with hurricane storms in mind with strong pyramid shaped structures very high above sea level, so it was able to withstand the worst of the storm and return to operation quickly.

The Galveston Island Trolley infrastructure was heavily damaged and operations were not restarted after the hurricane, and later suspended indefinitely. FEMA agreed to provide $200 million for repairs in the city. the line has yet to reopen.