Hurricane Ike threatens millions of people with strong wind, rain and a massive wave of water up to two stories high. Thousands of residents fled coastal area of Texas as the storm moved toward the state with its growing strength.

Ike is expected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm, with winds at least 111 mph - and possibly a Category 4 - before making landfall early Saturday. According to the National Hurricane Center, Ike was a Category 2 storm late Thursday, with 105-mph (165-kph) winds.

Thursday afternoon the storm was about 645 kilometers east- southeast of Galveston, Texas and was moving toward the coast at 17 kilometers per hour.

Nearly 1 million people along the Texas coast were ordered to flee inland ahead of the storm. Chemical companies and refineries shuttered their plants, preparing to face high winds and damaging floods.

As the first evacuees arrived in San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth early Wednesday afternoon, President Bush declared an emergency in Texas and offered federal aid to state and local officials.

Evacuation orders were issued for coastal parts of the Houston area and Galveston. In Galveston, residents of the entire city and barrier island were ordered to leave. The Port of Houston, the nation’s second largest, closed. Airlines cancelled flights to the region.

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator, according to a local source. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain, but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

The hurricane forced NASA to delay Atlantis’ move by another 24 hours. Initially, NASA decided to close its Kennedy Space Center for three days last week because the center was threatened by the Tropical Storm Fay.

Hurricane Dolly was the last major storm to pound Texas. It was a Category 2 storm which delivered 16 inches of rain to the coast in July, knocked out power to 210,000 homes and businesses, and caused damage totaling at least $1.2 billion, the New York Times notes.

Hurricane Ike was already blamed for 80 deaths in the Caribbean, most of them in Haiti, the region hit by Hurricane Gustav in late August.

Charlie Crist, Florida’s Governor, stated that "These storms have a mind of their own. There are no rules, so what we have to do is be prepared, be smart, vigilant and alert."

Ike formed off the coast of Africa at the end of last month, and developed further as it reached the Cape Verde islands. At first, NHC classified it as a tropical depression, but changes in its structure after September 1 determined its classification as a tropical storm.

"I cannot overemphasize the danger that is facing us," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.