Officials call for voluntary evacuations

MIAMI, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- City officials in Corpus Christi, Texas, recommended residents voluntarily leave the city Wednesday as Hurricane Ike edged closer to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Meanwhile, President George Bush declared a state of emergency in Texas and ordered federal aid to help the state respond to the storm, which is expected to make landfall Friday.

Ike, upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane and expected to make landfall in the Corpus Christi area, trekked northwest across the Gulf of Mexico at 8 mph with near 100-mph winds, the National Hurricane Center reported. At 5 p.m., the storm was about 370 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 720 miles east of Brownsville, Texas.

In the voluntary Corpus Christi evacuation, the Texas Department of Transportation opened the Evacu Lane on Interstate 37, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported.

"We're in the preparations of having it capable of being flushed and open when the call comes and that will be between DPS, the city and us," said Cliff Bost, Texas Transportation Department spokesman said.

The Caller-Times said numerous schools have canceled all classes and athletic events through the weekend.

Texas National Guard troops and Air Force personnel from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida have been preparing a medical triage area at the Corpus Christi International Airport since Tuesday, the Caller-Times reported. Numerous school, church, athletic and social events have been canceled or postponed.

White House press secretary Dana Perino announced the United States will send $10 million in disaster assistance to Haiti in the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike.