US storm death toll hits 30

The death toll from hurricane Ike rose to 30 in eight states today as the storm slogged across the mid-US leaving a trail of flooding and destruction.

Glass-strewn Houston was placed under a week-long curfew, and millions of people in the storm’s path remained without power.

Rescuers said they had saved nearly 2,000 people from waterlogged streets and splintered houses by yesterday.

Many had ignored evacuation orders and tried to ride out the storm. Now they were boarding buses for indefinite stays at shelters further inland in San Antonio and Austin.

In hard-hit towns like Orange, Bridge City and Galveston in southern Texas, rescuers continued their door-to-door search well into the night, hoping to reach an untold number of people still in their homes, many without power or supplies.

Many of those who did make it to safety boarded buses without knowing where they were going or when they could return to what might remain of their homes.

Shelters across Texas struggled to find enough beds, and some evacuees arrived with little cash and no idea of what the coming days held.

Even for those who still have a home to go to, Ike’s 110 mph winds and battering waves left thousands in coastal areas without electricity, gas and basic communications – and officials estimated it may not be restored for a month.

“We want our citizens to stay where they are,” said Lyda Ann Thomas, mayor of the hard-hit barrier island city of Galveston. “Do not come back to Galveston. You cannot live here at this time.”

The hurricane also battered the heart of the US oil industry as Ike destroyed at least 10 production platforms.

It was too soon to know how seriously it would affect oil and gas prices.

President George Bush intends to visit the area tomorrow.

He said getting power restored was a priority and urged power companies to “please recruit out-of-state people to come and help you do this.”

Ike was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved north. Roads were closed in Kentucky because of high winds. As far north as Chicago, dozens of people in a suburb had to be evacuated by boat. Two million people were without power in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Of the 30 dead, five were in Galveston, including one body found in a vehicle submerged in floodwater at the airport. There were two other deaths in Texas and six in Louisiana, including a 16-year-old boy trapped in rising floodwaters. Several were farther inland.

Two golfers died when a tree fell on them in Tennessee. There were six deaths in Indiana; three died in Missouri. One person died in Arkansas and three in Ohio, including two motorcyclists killed when a tree toppled on them at a state park.

Ike killed more than 80 in the Caribbean before reaching the US.