* Rescuers scour Texas coast, survey damage * Rift emerging over delays in aid * Three bodies found on Galveston By Anna Driver HOUSTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Texas mounted its biggest ever rescue effort as search teams searched through debris and flooded homes on Sunday after Hurricane Ike cut a swathe of destruction and left millions without power. State and local officials asked the federal government to speed up relief efforts, while warning evacuees not to return home until it was safe. Some 2 million people left the region and about 2,000 had been rescued from flooded areas. Ike plowed a destructive path through the state after slamming into the Texas coast early on Saturday and moving inland to Houston, the heart of the U.S. oil industry, forcing many refineries to shut down as a precaution. President George W. Bush, who will visit his home state on Tuesday, said it was too early to determine the damage to U.S. energy infrastructure. The storm also halted crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, representing a quarter of U.S. output. The U.S. Coast Guard said the storm damaged some offshore oil production facilities but did not yet know the extent. Authorities in Houston, the fourth most populous U.S. city, ordered a weeklong curfew because of flooding and downed power lines. Widespread outages could last for weeks. Damage assessment has barely begun but early estimates suggest the bill could rise to $18 billion. Local officials said rescue crews found at least three bodies on Galveston, an island city of 60,000 shredded by the storm. Overall, nearly 2,000 people have been rescued from flooded areas, state officials said. As access to Galveston loosened, the extent of the damage became clearer. Block after block was flooded and streets were littered with the contents of homes. "This is like Katrina without the deaths. We don't have many deaths but we have a lot of destruction," firefighter Mel Rourke Jr. said as he cleaned up his father's house in Galveston. "It took 24 hours to destroy something that took decades to build." As people in Galveston and Houston complained about the lack of food, water and ice in the sweltering heat, a rift emerged between federal and local officials over delays in aid. "We expect FEMA to deliver these supplies, and we will hold them accountable," a visibly frustrated Houston Mayor Bill White told a televised news conference, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledged a delay in distribution but said 80 trucks of food and ice would arrive on Sunday night. The Bush administration came under heavy fire for its botched relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thousands were left stranded for days in homes with flood waters reaching attics and in overcrowded evacuee centers. PLEA FOR HELP The hurricane swamped Galveston as it crashed ashore on Saturday and hammered Houston, 50 miles (85 km) inland, shattering the windows of skyscrapers, showering streets with debris, tearing up trees and damaging buildings. "It's pretty obvious there was substantial and long-term damage done to Galveston Island," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said after flying over the historic coastal community. Perry reminded the federal government that it was in its interest to get Texas' economy back on its feet quickly. The state boasts a booming economy thanks to energy demand. "We are very aware of the critical economic role that this region plays," Chertoff told reporters in Galveston, adding that restoring power to 4.5 million people was the start. Ike triggered the biggest disruption to U.S. energy supplies in three years and sent gasoline prices higher. But U.S. crude oil futures dropped more than $1.59 to as low as $99.59 a barrel on Sunday as traders shrugged off supply concerns. At the pumps, gasoline shot up more than 10 cents, hitting $5 a gallon in some places, in two days as retail fuel supply concerns mounted in the hurricane's wake. Wreckage and floodwaters have hampered attempts to search all of Galveston, where about 10,000 people ignored a mandatory evacuation order. The sea wall protecting Galveston was piled high with wreckage from buildings and other debris. The hurricane's winds lifted houses off their foundations and pushed boats and cars around the island. "Do not come back to Galveston, you cannot live here at this time," Lyda Ann Thomas, told reporters. The city has no water, no power and no gasoline, she said. (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor, Eileen O'Grady, Erwin Seba, Ed Stoddard, Chris Baltimore and Bruce Nichols in Texas; James Vicini in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken)
U.S. Air Force Pararescueman Staff Sgt. Lopaka Mounts, assigned to the 331st Air Expeditionary Group, receives a hug from a resident during search and rescue operations after Hurricane Ike in Galveston, ...
