Hurricane Ike: Aftermath

The survivors are picking through the wreckage of Ike.

"I've never seen water like this," she said after the storm surge ruined everything in her garage, including a 2002 pickup truck, two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a freezer, a washer and a dryer.

Collins' daughter, Cynthia, also weathered the storm. After her roof collapsed, she waited hours for help to arrive. When it didn't, she said, she waded seven blocks through thigh-high water to get to her mother's house.

"I decided just to go, because no one was coming to get me," she said. "We have been calling emergency people since 5 o'clock this morning."

Twenty-four hours after Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, packing 110-mph winds, rescuers began efforts early Sunday to check on the estimated 20,000 people who failed to heed mandatory evacuation orders.

Around the South and Midwest, gas prices have shot up to $5 or more.

As Hurricane Ike barrels down on Texas, the impact is being felt in other parts of the country as the oil industry comes to a near halt and reports of price gouging start to spread.

Fears of gas shortages are leading to exploitation in some parts of the Southeast, where some stations are reported to be charging as much as $6 a gallon for gas.

In North Carolina, Gov. Mike Easley has declared a state of "abnormal market disruption" and signed an order allowing the attorney general to enforce the state's anti-gouging law. In South Carolina, Attorney General Henry McMaster invoked a similar law for his state, and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency.

"Fear of price gouging is bad in the state right now," Mark Plowden, communications director for the South Carolina attorney general told ABC News. "Public panic can cause a run on the pump, creating more panic, so we are trying to control the situation."

His office has fielded hundreds of phone calls, and many other calls have been received by county law enforcement offices. Plowden added that the receptionist is fielding "a phone call every eight seconds on this topic."

"People have gone as far as calling 911 to report that gas is expensive," he said.

Here in Northern Kentucky I can tell you gas has gone from $3.69 to $4.15 or more. People are angry. Prices of $4.99 and up have been spotted in Knoxville, Atlanta, Louisville and Lexington, and that was yesterday.

Remember that the GOP still wants to give billions to energy companies.