Ike Experts Warn of 'Certain Death'

Prediction of 22-foot storm surge brings dire evacuation warning from weather service

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 12, 2008 5:06 AM CDT

(Newser) – Refusing to evacuate could be the last mistake residents living in hurricane-vulnerable homes in coastal Texas ever make, the National Weather Service has warned. The dire warning of "certain death" facing some single-family home dwellers came as forecasters predicted a storm surge of up to 22 feet along Galveston Bay, CNN reports. Almost 1 million people have been ordered to evacuate.

Ike is currently a Category 2 hurricane expected to hit landfall as early as tomorrow morning and to tear through Galveston and Houston. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff urged Texans not to succumb to "hurricane fatigue" and underestimate Ike's potential power. "Unless you're fatigued with living, I suggest you want to take seriously a storm of this size and scale," he said.

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (2)]

A line of 14 buses with Hurricane Ike evacuees from Beaumont, Texas, arrive at the Faulkner Park reception center in Tyler, Texas, last night. (AP Photo/Dr. Scott M. Lieberman)

Traffic lines Interstate 45 leaving Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast yesterday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Buses are lined up at an evacuation staging area in Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast yesterday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Residents of a retirement home line up to board an evacuation bus in Galveston yesterday. (AP Photo/Kim Christensen)

Nurses load infants being evacuated from John Sealy Hospital in Galveston in advance of Hurricane Ike yesterday. (AP Photo/Kim Christensen)

Ike evacuees from Beaumont, Texas, are met at a reception center in Tyler by members of the Tyler Fire Department last night. (AP Photo/Dr. Scott M. Lieberman)

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Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death. - National Weather Service advisory

If you think you want to ride something out, and people are talking about a 20-foot wall of water coming at you, then you better think again. - Houston Mayor Bill White

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Ike Experts Warn of 'Certain Death'