The Gulf Coast may have borne the brunt of the storm, but Hurricane Ike caused destruction locally as well.

Forecasters had originally believed that the storm, which was nearly the size of Texas, would reek more havoc. However, by the time it went further inland, Ike had been reduced to a tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center says the storm is weakening the farther north it travels.

“We were seeing winds at 30 to 40 mph, gusting to 50 mph before we lost our signal in the Lufkin,” said Aaron Stevens, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Shreveport. ...

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