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Hurricane Ike Barreling Towards Galveston and Houston

The manager of the Flagship Hotel on the pier in Galveston, Texas, is the last person to leave.

While everyone was up in arms about Gustav the other week, it turns out that Hurricane Ike is going to do some serious damage to the Texan gulf coast today. From Bloomberg News:

Hurricane Ike bore down on Texas, heading for landfall as early as today in Galveston, where forecasters warned residents of ``certain death'' if they ignore a mandatory evacuation order

President Bush has declared Texas a state of emergency, 7,500 National Guard members are on standby, the Houston Texans football game has been postponed until September 15 and the Houston Astros have cancelled two ball games.

As far as what's happening with hotels, Governor Rick Perry has suspended for 14 days the collection of state and local taxes for hotels and motels. And every hotel (as well as everything else) in Galveston has been evacuated.

Damage to buildings is expected and one hotel is particularly in danger. The NY Times reports that there are worries the Flagship Hotel on the pier in Galveston will not survive the storm. The hotel is literally over the water but probably not high enough to sustain the rising tides.

[Photo: NY Times]