Ike (click here)
Boats and debris piled up in Galveston, Tex., after Hurricane Ike. (click here)
Ike's death toll reaches 32 (click here)
September 15, 2008 13:11 EDT
CHICAGO (AP) -- Hurricane Ike is being blamed for a weekend of devastation in nine states.
The storm and its remnants are responsible for 32 deaths and power outages from Texas to Illinois, on to Ohio, Kentucky and New York.
Nearly one and a half million homes and businesses have no electricity today. Flooding touched off by a half foot or more of rain is reported in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. As many as 5,000 people are being evacuated from Munster, Indiana, where the town manager says they've "never had flooding like this."
Farmers fear all the rain could wreck what may already be shaky corn and soybean crops.
"Freak" Hurricane Ike Will Cost $22 Billion (click here)
Willie Dryefor National Geographic News
September 15, 2008
Hurricane Ike will be entered into the record books for the severe damage it inflicted in and around Galveston, Texas, experts say.
"This one's going to be famous for a long time, if for no other reason than it hit Texas, which hadn't gotten a strike by a damaging hurricane in 25 years," said Jeff Masters, director of Weather Underground, a private commercial forecasting service....
Ike pushes U.S. retail gasoline price -gov't (click title of entry, thank you)
...The EIA said the national average price for regular, self-service gasoline surged to $3.84 in the week ended Monday, Sept. 15, from $3.65 the previous week.
Hurricane Ike was the second hurricane to slam into the Gulf Coast in recent weeks, shutting 99.9 percent of Gulf of Mexico's oil output. According to a Reuters survey 16 refineries were closed Monday, representing 24.6 percent of U.S. capacity.
Despite Hurricane Ike, crude oil prices closed below $100 for the first time since March on Monday. Lower crude prices did not offer Americans much relief at the pump, however, with the average price of gasoline $1.05 higher than a year ago....
