Search and rescue teams are standing by, and plan to move into the affected parts of southeast Texas later today to search for storm victims, 1200 WOAI news reports.
At one point, there had been fears that as many as 40,000 people may have to be rescued...but now that figures appears to be far too high, as the storm has passed metro Houston and there are no widespread reports of casualties, officials say.
"We expected a major storm, and our expectations, unfortunately, came true," said Mike Miner, a spokesman for Governor Perry.
"It is too early to send search and rescue teams into the devastated areas. They are on stand by. They’re ready to go. The weather needs to clear up a little bite before they can actually go in, take a look around, and see what the actual devastation was."
The biggest problems facing most residents of metro Houston this morning is a lack of electric power, according to Centerpoint Energy Corp, the region's electric utility. 'It has been a really bad night and early Saturday morning on our electrical system," a spokesman said.
"We've got trees knocking power lines down all across the system. At this point, nearly two million customers who receive electricity via power lines are out of service."
He says the effort to restore that electricity will be slow. "We can't wait for Ike to keep moving, we can't wait for Ike to pick up steam and move on. We need to get our assessors and our helicopters to do aerial surveys, we need to get out foot patrol people down."
"Power is almost 100 percent out," Houston Mayor Bill White said this morning. "We have gotten 4700 emergency calls into the 9-1-1 center. The good news is, as the winds are diminishing, we plan to have some of our emergency crews bacdk on the streets by 10 this mroning."
White said it is far too early to determine the extend of damage in the city.
"We're going to have to take this day by day, look at the good and not the bad, and look into teh future. There will be some tragedies that occur, there are people struggling right now. If we Houstonians keep our heads up and plow through this in a competent way, it will be a credit to the city of Houston."
White also urged peopel to stay off the street, because shattered glass is still falling out of windows of downtown high rise buildings.
"Obviously, we have some high rise buildings throughout the city. We do know there has been damage to roofs and structures throughout the city, but we don't want anybody to think downtown Houston is wiped out."
White promised a 'very strong emergency surge' by 9 to 10 this morning.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is rquesting that all residents conserve water.
"We do want to focus on the water supply, to make sure that it remains safe," Emmett said.
"On the west side of the hurricane, the surge seems to have peaked at 11 to 12 feet and is expected to recede," he said. "But that surge is moving to the east and is expected to continue."
He says the inlets, bays, and bayous east of Houston continue to be subject to flodo warnings.
"The Medical Center right now is not experiencing blackouts because their power lines are underground," Emmett said.
"The Houston Fire Department suspended response activities about 4:45 AM, and they will resume as soon as it is possible. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army reports preparations are underway for shelter operations which will be necessary after the storm."
Emmett said a ship is currently being held by tugs in the Houston Ship channel, so residents are being asked to stay off the Loop 610 bridge 'just in case.'
"Nobody really ought to be out driving right now anyway."
Some parts of the Houston area say they did not get the devastation they had feared. "It looks like we dodged a bullet," a city councilman in Baytown, at the north end of Galveston Bay said. "Of course, that could change."
There are reports of high water across the metro Houston area, as well as windows blown out of numerous buildings. There was also a devastating fire at Brennan's of Houston, a landmark restaurant.
Several people had taken shelter at the restaurant and three people, including two children, were hurt.
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