A police SWAT team van stands watch as floodwater overflows from storm drains on the north end of downtown Houston after Hurricane Ike struck the area September 13, 2008. Hurricane Ike barrelled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early on Saturday, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds and rain that flooded large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and paralyzed the fourth-largest US city. [Agencies]