Hurricane Ike - The Aftermath

September 15, 2008 - Boats and debris clutter the water in hurricane-hit Galveston, Texas, on September 13, 2008. Hurricane Ike's 110-mile-per-hour (177-kilometer-per-hour) winds delivered a punishing blow to the island city, shredding buildings, flooding streets, and knocking out power for millions of people.

A last minute turn by the storm as it approached the Texas coast on Saturday spared heavily populated Galveston from an expected 25-foot (7.6-meter) storm surge, according to meteorologists. (See photos of Texas after the storm.) —Photograph by David J. Phillip/AP/Pool

A pump jack - a device that mechanically extracts liquid from oil deposits--sits among floodwaters shimmering with oil in High Island, Texas, in an aerial photo taken on September 14, 2008. Hurricane Ike did only "moderate damage" to a handful of oil platforms and coastal refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, which sat in the direct path of the storm as it blew through over the weekend, according to the Reuters news agency.

Restoring power supplies knocked out by the storm will be the biggest hurdle, the agency reported. —Photograph by David J. Phillip/AP/Pool

A beachfront home stands alone amid the devastation from Hurricane Ike in Gilchrist, Texas, on September 14, 2008. As the storm approached the U.S. Gulf Coast on Saturday, an estimated 140,000 Texas residents refused to evacuate when ordered to do so, the Associated Press reported.

Now Texas has engaged in the largest search-and-rescue operation in its history, already saving more than 2,000 people left in the storm's wake. —Photograph by David J. Phillip/AP/Pool

Bicyclists ride past debris stacked on a seawall road in Galveston, Texas, on September 14, 2008.

Hurricane Ike is the most damaging hurricane to hit Texas in 25 years. Jeff Masters, director of Weather Underground, a private commercial forecasting service, said the costs of Ike's rampage could reach U.S. $22 billion, which would make it the third costliest U.S. hurricane on record behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. —Photograph by Matt Slocum/AP

An alligator crosses the road in Sabine Pass, Texas, a day after Hurricane Ike made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast September 13, 2008. The devastating storm triggered multiple calls to the U.S. Humane Society for rescue, evacuation, and shelter of pets, farm animals, and wildlife, according to the group's Web site.

Animal experts expect Ike's effect on animals to be small compared to Hurricane Katrina three years ago. After Katrina wreaked havoc in Louisiana, the Humane Society reported rescuing and caring for more than 10,000 abandoned and lost animals. —Photograph by Eric Gay/AP

Galveston, Texas, resident hugs U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Lopaka Mounts on September 13, 2008, the day Hurricane Ike, struck the U.S. Gulf Coast. Mounts was on a search-and-rescue mission to find survivors of the Category 2 hurricane.

A spokesperson for Texas Governor Rick Perry told the press that the recovery effort following Ike would likely be the largest search-and-rescue operation the state had ever conducted. —Photograph by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr./Handout/Reuters

Paul Lopez barbeques on a balcony in Galveston, Texas, on September 14, 2008. A day after Hurricane Ike devastated the town, many residents had no power. In total, Ike left an estimated 2.4 million Texans and 200,000 Louisianans without electricity. —Photograph by L.M. Otero/AP