(September 13, 2008)—Ike weakened to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday morning as it moved north through East Texas and there were reports of downed trees and power lines in some counties in eastern Central Texas.

Law enforcement officials report downed trees and power outages in Franklin and in various areas of Robertson County, and in Freestone County, there were reports of downed trees west of Fairfield.

In Leon County, sheriff’s deputies reported downed trees along Highway 7 about 10 miles east of Centerville.

In Anderson County, a number of trees are down and several roads were blocked.

Power is out for much of the county.

Ike was moving to the north at about 16 miles per hour, producing heavy rain squalls and strong winds with gusts of as much as 70 miles per hour possible.

The strong winds are expected to continue through the afternoon.

Ike battered the coast with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts after coming ashore in Galveston around 2 a.m. Saturday as a Category 2 storm.

Officials say nearly 3 million people are without power.

Fires were burning untended across Houston and 911 operators have inundated with more than 1,200 calls in the past 24 hours.

Thousands of homes and government buildings had flooded, and roads were washed out.

Andrew Barlow, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry's office, said emergency responders would, quote, "probably do the largest search and rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas."

Firefighters in Galveston responded to about 60 rescue calls before suspending operations late Friday.

Though a million people fled coastal communities near where the storm made landfall, authorities in four counties alone said roughly 140,000 ignored mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind.

There was some good news: a stranded freighter with 22 men aboard made it through the brunt of the storm safely, and a tugboat was on the way to save them.

Also, the storm surge, which forecasters said could reach 20 feet, was less than predicted.

Texas Task Force Ike was ready and waiting in San Antonio to be sent as needed for "search and rescue" after the storm arrives.

The task force includes more than 1,000 personnel and 500 vehicles.

As many as 7,500 Texas National Guard members have been activated to assist as needed.

Areas of concern for flooding are Galveston, West Galveston Bay area, Texas City, Seabrook, NASA Bay, LaPorte, Bolivar Peninsula and Baytown.

Perry's office says petrochemical plants in the Houston area remain a point of concern.

State officials are in contact with industry officials to monitor any damage.