Long Lines Await Ike Survivors

With a short supply of commodities like ice and gasoline forcing Texans trying to recover from Hurricane Ike to wait in hours-long lines, President Bush warned today the storm may put "upward pressure" on US fuel prices. Refineries and oil rigs sustained extensive, though not severe, damage, the Houston Chronicle reports. Meanwhile, some businesses reopened and FEMA officials say they are “working feverishly” to open 17 food distribution centers today.

Nearly 10,000 people rushed to a food site that opened earlier today, draining it of initial food and water supplies within hours. Throughout the shuttered city, residents huddled in those homes with power and waited in long lines at the few stores open. Houston’s mayor says the city is “in the eye of the aftermath, which in many ways can be more devastating.”
(More Hurricane Ike stories.)