What was the extent of damage to Galveston from Hurricane Ike?”
The US state of Texas is expected to be left with a repair repair bill of at least $8bn after Hurricane Ike, now weakened to a tropical storm, flooded coastal towns, cutting power lines and paralysing the oil hub of Houston. Emergency crews and insurers were assessing the damage in Galveston, Houston and Louisiana on Sunday, but officials said it was not nearly as bad as originally feared. “This hurricane has caused devastation across areas of Texas and Louisiana,” David Paulison, the administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), said. More than four million people were left without electricity, but hours after Ike swept across the state there was still no confirmed fatalities. The storm shattered the windows of skyscrapers, showering streets with glass and debris, tore apart bus shelters and ripped metal sheets off buildings. According to an early computer-model estimate of damage by the insurance industry, it could lead to between $8bn and $18bn in claims. Hurrica
