Hurricane Ike – Day Three. Hurricane Ike roared over our hotel in downtown Houston for hours last night. The peak of the storm was about 3 am. That’s when we lost electricty and the fences and trees went down in our hotel parking lot. — Jayrunner

Hurricane Ike blog. There were 15 people on my flight into Houston Friday morning. It was a ghost town when we arrived. Matter-of-fact, an eerie quiet hung over the entire city. — ABC Local

Tropical Weather -Blogging Live with the Chronicle Staff. Hurricane Ike knocked out power to nearly every customer in Liberty County, said Tom Branch, the county’s emergency management director. Branch said there is widespread damage to buildings. “People say this is 10 times worse than Rita,” Branch said today. Branch said no fatalities have been reported but there have been several minor injuries, caused mainly by falling trees and limbs. “We are in the recovery phase right now,” he said. — Houston Chronicle

Halfway There… We are close to the eye itself now. Not only does the radar show such, but everyone here almost at the same time commented about our ears popping (similar to the sensation on an airplane). I assume that’s because of the low pressure in the eye of the storm. I had always heard the weather guys refer to the pressure dropping, but had no idea we’ d actually physically feel it. — Texas Rainmaker