Weather Pictures and Video - Live up to minute hurricane tracking radar

Rescuers in Galveston, Texas, were going door-to-door Saturday to check on the estimated 20,000 people who failed to flee Hurricane Ike, which has slowed to tropical storm status.

As of 2 p.m. local time Saturday, the Galveston Fire Department had taken 22 people to a shelter in a high school on the coastal island, which was without electricity or water pressure.

"We are in a recovery mode," Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said in a press conference Saturday afternoon. "This eye came right over us, stayed a while and went on, but it brought a lot of damage to our city."

Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said the island would be closed while authorities assess damages, including to the causeway, which was in "bad shape" because of debris and road damage.

"The road buckled in a number of places," LeBlanc said. "Even if we opened it up you couldn't get through."

Ike was downgraded Saturday to a tropical storm 11 hours after it crashed ashore as a Texas-sized hurricane that walloped southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.