Hurricane Ike’s storm surge flooded Galveston’s historic district early Saturday, sparked fires and knocked out power.
Heavy winds continued to pummel the coastal region more than four hours after the storm made landfall as a Category 2 storm.
It has since weakened to a Category 1, the National Hurricane Center said in its 9 a.m. ET update.
Galveston County’s Emergency Management Coordinator John Simsen urged residents to be patient at a 7 a.m. briefing.
“We have a lot of work to do in terms of damage assessment,” he said. “We don’t understand yet what we’re dealing with …