Hurricane Ike Causes Evacuations in Texas

HOUSTON — The frail and elderly were put aboard buses yesterday and authorities warned 1 million others to flee inland as Hurricane Ike steamed toward a swath of the Texas coast that includes the nation's largest concentration of refineries and chemical plants.

Drawing energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the strengthening storm was expected to blow ashore early Saturday somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston, with some forecasts saying it could become a fearsome Category 4, with winds of at least 131 mph.

Such a storm could cause a storm surge of 18 feet in Matagorda Bay and between 4 and 8 feet in Galveston Bay. The surge in Galveston push floodwaters into Houston, damaging areas that include the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center.