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.

[6] Some people survived by punching holes in attics,[11] climbing to rooftops or trees,[12] using nearby boats, or floating on debris[12] until reaching solid ground.

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.

[13] 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.

City Manager Steve LeBlanc late Wednesday issued a mandatory evacuation order for the low lying west end of Galveston Island.

[20] 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.

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.

[12] The tiny beachfront community of Gilchrist, which sat astride the north-facing Rollover Bay on Bolivar, 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.

[35] 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.

[citation needed] The historic Balinese Room, a former mafia-run nightclub on a pier that had extended 600 feet into the Gulf of Mexico and had withstood many serious storms,[39] was swept away as Ike's eye crossed over the eastern half of Galveston Island.

[39] The elevated structure, a pier, which had hosted performers ranging from Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope[40] and George Burns to Groucho Marx and Sammy Davis, Jr.,[39] had recently been renovated and returned to profitability after years of neglect and disrepair, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Calling local emergency operators three hours ahead of Ike's landfall, they requested evacuation by Coast Guard personnel, as the entire length of the pier and the structure's first story had by that time fallen into the Gulf.

[48] From a historical perspective, on September 8, 1900, the Great Galveston Hurricane came ashore on a path similar to Ike,[49] bringing with it a storm surge that inundated most of Galveston Island: as a result, much of the city was destroyed and at least 6,000 people were killed in a few hours; afterward, the level of the island was raised an average of 4 ft (1.2 m), adding a high seawall (17 ft (5.2 m) to block incoming waves.

[3] according to a witness interviewed by Fox News, furniture from offices in the JPMorgan Chase building was blown out of the shattered windows and into the parking garage across the street.

[3] At Memorial Hermann Hospital, patients were coming in with a variety of problems, including people who had run out of medicine or oxygen, or others who had cuts and bruises.

[12] Based on information compiled by the US Center for Disease Control, twenty-eight deaths in Harris County are attributed to the indirect effects of Ike, including illnesses, and accidents, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, fires, and tree cutting.

[50][failed verification][51] Hurricane Ike affected Houston Astros' late dash for Major League Baseball's playoffs, indefinitely postponing Friday and Saturday's games against the Chicago Cubs.

Due to large number of destroyed, damaged, or dysfunctional traffic lights, most Houston roads remained clogged two weeks after Ike hit.

A Valero Energy Corp. spokesman, Bill Day, said that crews would soon get in to inspect the oil refineries in Houston and Texas City, which remained shut down on Saturday, September 13, 2008.

The dike, known to locals as "the world's longest manmade fishing pier," had stood for seven decades and was considered Texas City's primary defense against the devastation wrought by a powerful storm surge.

An aerial survey late afternoon Sunday, September 14, revealed that the eastern and northern portions of Texas City, as well as San Leon were still substantially flooded.

A few businesses, including some gasoline stations, convenience stores and fast food restaurants, were planning to re-open as early as Monday, September 15, 2008.

Severe damage occurred at the Kemah Boardwalk, the site of many popular restaurants and shops, as well as a small waterfront amusement park with various rides, including a carousel, kiddie train and Ferris wheel overlooking Galveston Bay.

[57] In an interview on local CBS affiliate KHOU-TV, the Boardwalk manager expressed confidence that despite such unprecedented devastation to the tourist attraction, the site would be rebuilt.

The funeral home had lost electrical service and was using the trailers to store bodies of people who died of natural causes until burials could be arranged.

The piles of debris and waterlogged furniture placed outside homes by residents beginning to clean up led the mayor to say "The whole city looks like a flea market.

[76] Entergy Texas, whose service area includes Beaumont-Port Arthur west to cities north of Houston such as The Woodlands and Conroe, estimated that 392,600 of their 395,000 customers lost power during Ike.

[77] On Saturday, September 13, 2008, the US Coast Guard sent the tugboat Rotterdam to rescue the crew of a disabled freighter, Antalina,[78] carrying 22 people, hours after the ship had survived Hurricane Ike, without any means of escaping.