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I N S I D E

WHATS OPEN AND WHATS CLOSED? SEE LIST ON PAGE 3A

Section designed and copy-edited by Vic Odegar, Christopher Clausen and Megan Kinkade, (409) 880-0795

WEATHER: Hurricane conditions expected, thunderstorms could produce tornadoes, Highs: 80s, Lows: 70s/2A

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

VOL.CXXVIII, N O. 313 THE ADVOCATE FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS SINCE 1880 50 Cents

SATURDAY

at beaumontenterpris com

The tastiest bits

of Southeast Texas are on

Shawl ministry knitscomfort for others: 1B

Average price of agallon of regular gasin Southeast Texas:

As of Thursday morning Sources: AAA, Oil Price Information Service

$3.63

Surging ashore

INSIDE

Surge could subside beforerain accumulates: 4A Those venturing out aftercurfew could be arrested: 7A Coast Guard helicoptercrews rescue dozens of Boli-var Peninsula residentstrapped by rising water: 8A Cafe in evacuation zonestill has hot coffee: 8A $1 trillion in insured prop-

erty is in Ikes path: 6B

ONLINE

www.beaumontenterprise.com:

Hurricane updates, video,photo galleries and morewww.texashurricanenews.com:

What to do after storm hits

NO HOME DELIVERY

Because all newspaper carriers

have evacuated, there will be

no home delivery today. Home

delivery of The Beaumont

Enterprise will resume as soonas possible. Copies of the

newspaper are available in

racks and newsstands through-

out the region. Please visit

beaumontenterprise.com for

up-to-date news and details.

Flooding fears rise as Ike promises immense water push

By COLIN GUY, JANE

MCBRIDE and JULIE SHEHANE

THE ENTERPRISE

BEAUMONT Kris Binagia,57, child-care director at the

Westminster PresbyterianChurch, spent much of Fridaysitting on the church steps.

Binagia, a Nederland resident,planned to ride out HurricaneIke on the third floor of the brickstructure in Beaumont.

Her partner, lab tech RonnieBroussard, 53, and sister, child-care worker Robin Hebert, 50,

would do the same.

We figured this church is 125years old, said Binagia, addingthat it only lost one window dur-ing Hurricane Rita.

The three were not alone. The

STAYING, page 5A

Ready for ride in Southeast Texas

Evacuees escape Ike ... not anxietyBy RYAN MYERS and

CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE

THE ENTERPRISE

PORT ARTHUR With a 20- to24-foot storm surge predicted forPort Arthur, the question was notif Hurricane Ike would best thecitys seawall, but how badly.

Thats worst-case scenario,Phil Kelley, an official with thearea drainage district, said of thestorm-surge forecast. Thats 4 to

8 feet over the seawall.By comparison, when Hurri-cane Rita hammered SoutheastTexas three years ago, the seawall

was left without so much as ahigh-water mark.

At 1 foot above sea level and

SURGE, page 4A

Its 16-foot seawall vs.20- to 24-foot surge

By KYLE PEVETO, JANE

MCBRIDE and JULIE SHEHANE

THE ENTERPRISE

TYLER Sitting in a sheltermore than 200 miles from homeFriday afternoon, Terrance Reese,

17, relied on cell phone calls fromhis Beaumont friends for news ofHurricane Ikes landfall.

No televisions at his Tyler shelterwere tuned to the news, so Reeseand his family nervously asked oth-ers about the storm.

When Jefferson County officials

declared a mandatory evacuationThursday, his mother, RachealHampton, 45, packed up 18 familymembers and headed for The Sal-vation Army shelter where theystayed during Hurricane Rita.

If its mandatory, its mandato-ry, the Beaumont entrepreneursaid. If its mandatory for us toleave, I cant put my kids in that

jam.

The family feels comfortable with the shelter at The Center of

EVACUEES, page 5A

Tammy McKinley/The Enterprise

The wind begin to pick up as Miya McCollin waits to evacuate to Beaumont

from the Port Arthur Civic Center on Friday.

A view

from the

top of the

Intra-

coastal

Canal

Bridge on

Texas 87to Sabine

Pass

shows

water over

the road as

Hurricane

Ike getscloser to

the coast.

Dave Ryan/The Enterprise

By SARAH MOORE

THE ENTERPRISE

Fear of extreme flooding joinedworries of high winds and toppledtrees Friday as the teeth of themammoth meteorological buzzsaw

called Hurricane Ike bit into theSoutheast Texas coast.

The cheery, were-staying attitudeamong residents who ignored evac-uation calls the day before gave wayto anxiety over whether the surge

would top levees and cause rivers

and bayous to back up.Ike was expected to come ashore

just after midnight Friday, with winds in the 100 mph neighbor-hood, as its center crossed overGalveston Island, hurling his nastynortheast side into Southeast Texas.

But it was the surge from a stormthat spanned a large portion of theGulf that sparked the greatest con-cerns.

Images of an angry sea climbingover the 17-foot-high GalvestonSeawall filled television and com-

puter screens early Friday, but the worst of Ikes storm surge asmuch as 20 feet was expected tobash the Southeast Texas coast.

Hurricane Ikes influence is

HURRICANE, page 4A

Tammy McKinley/The Enterprise

Jacob Alpough watches the water rise and the winds pick up as Hur-

ricane Ike gets closer to the seawall in Port Arthur on Friday.