Reply #55: AP update- 600 miles across. Almost 90,000 who didn't get out

[chill_wind]

from 3 counties.

By JUAN A. LOZANO and PAULINE ARRILLAGA,
Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

GALVESTON, Texas

At 600 miles across, the storm was nearly as big as Texas itself, and threatened to give the state its worst pounding in a generation. It was on track to crash ashore early Saturday as possibly a 3 storm with winds topping 111 mph and a two-story storm surge near Galveston, the same site that suffered the nation's worst natural disaster when a storm struck without warning and killed 6,000 more than a century ago.

Officials were growing increasingly worried about the stalwarts, and many communities imposed curfews to discourage looters. Authorities in three counties alone said roughly 90,000 stayed behind, despite a warning from forecasters that many of those in one- or two-story homes on the coast faced "certain death."

(...)

Authorities instructed most of the city's 2 million residents to just hunker down to avoid highway gridlock. Residents prepared for a sleepless night.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ike