Texas rushes Ike relief as health crisis looms

By Tim Gaynor

GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials warned of a health crisis on Monday and urged thousands of people to leave Galveston, where relief supplies were scarce for hungry, exhausted residents of the island city ravaged by Hurricane Ike.

In Houston, millions struggled to cope without power in the U.S. energy hub.

About 2,000 people have been plucked from flooded areas by helicopters and boats in the largest rescue effort in the state's history as searchers scoured battered communities along the coast and Galveston Bay.

Galveston, a city of 60,000, was decimated when the hurricane made landfall there on Saturday morning and 15,000-20,000 people remained in quickly degrading conditions.

"There's nothing to come here for," Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas told residents still on the island. "Please leave."

She called in a cruise ship to house recovery teams, and the city was bringing in a refrigerated mobile morgue.

"We cannot accommodate people who are getting sick," said Galveston City Manager Steven LeBlanc. "You have the potential for a health crisis."

More than 4 million people, several oil refineries and many businesses and gas stations around Houston remained without power. Government agencies will distribute ice, water and packaged meals from tractor-trailers.

President George W. Bush will view storm-damaged areas in Texas on Tuesday. He still is trying to rebuild his image as a disaster manager after he was widely criticized for a botched relief effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The relief roll-out appeared to defuse tensions that had flared between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials after Houston Mayor Bill White vowed to hold FEMA accountable for delivering on its commitments.

'FEMA AIN'T BEEN BY'

Officials from Texas -- which sheltered some 200,000 evacuees when Katrina devastated New Orleans -- pressed for equal treatment from federal aid agencies.

"I have asked the president and the administration to just treat us as fairly as they treated Louisiana back during Katrina," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "Texans will take care of the rest."

FEMA said it will deliver 7.5 million meals over the next few days, along with 5.1 million gallons of water, 19.2 million pounds (8,700 tonnes) of ice, and 80,000 tarps.

Residents of Texas and Louisiana are in for tough times, FEMA Administrator David Paulison said. "Some people will be out of their homes for not only weeks, but months," he said.