Mandatory and voluntary Evacuations are in effect for People along the Texas coast who were leaving home or planning to evacuate Thursday as Hurricane Ike churned toward them, slowly intensifying on its march west.

Forecasters say the storm could slam into the Texas coast -- south of Galveston -- as a powerful Category 3 storm possible a the storm could reach a category 4, late Friday or early Saturday.

Aransas County, on the eastern coast of Texas, has ordered a mandatory evacuation of all nonessential government employees, becoming the latest county in the state to urge residents to flee.

In Galveston, city officials ordered mandatory evacuations for part of the island town beginning at 7 a.m. Thursday. The rest of the town will be under a voluntary evacuation order. Only residents will be required to evacuate on the western end of the island.

The last warning from the hurricaine center:

...LARGE HURRICANE IKE HEADING TOWARD THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF
MEXICO...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THE
MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA BORDER WESTWARD TO EAST OF CAMERON LOUISIANA. A
TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM CAMERON LOUISIANA WESTWARD
TO PORT MANSFIELD TEXAS. HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN
THE WATCH AREA BY LATE FRIDAY.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 700 AM CDT...1200Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 25.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 88.0 WEST OR ABOUT 575 MILES...920
KM...EAST OF BROWNSVILLE TEXAS AND ABOUT 270 MILES...435 KM...
SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH...16 KM/HR.
A GENERAL WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION OVER THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN
GULF OF MEXICO IS EXPECTED TODAY AND FRIDAY. ON THIS TRACK THE
CENTER WILL BE APPROACHING THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST
LATE FRIDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 100 MPH...160 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. IKE IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
SCALE...AND IT COULD INTENSIFY INTO A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE OVER
THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.

As reported by NOAA:

AT 500 AM AST.SEP p5, 2008..THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM JOSEPHINE WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 15.7 NORTH...LONGITUDE 34.3 WEST OR ABOUT 665
MILES...1065 KM...WEST OF THE SOUTHERNMOST CAPE VERDE ISLANDS.

JOSEPHINE IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 9 MPH...15 KM/HR...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE
OF DAYS.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 50 MPH...85 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175 MILES...280 KM
FROM THE CENTER.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT
1100 AM AST.

Here is Josephine's 5 day projected path.

I live in Palm Beach county and we are breathing a sigh of relief that tropical storm Hanna decided not to make landfall here in Florida however she is heading for the Carolina's so they are preparing now for her.

However South Florida is not out of the woods, just as we rejoiced that Hanna passed us by but now we have Ike, heading our way, Florida will now be making plans over the weekend to get ready for a possible Cat 3 hurricaine,unless it increases in strenght, it is unsure where Ike may make landfall at this time but I am not sure we will be as lucky as we were in Hanna.

Here is the info on Ike as reported by NOAA:

AT 500 AM AST...0900Z...THE EYE OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 23.7 NORTH...LONGITUDE 61.0 WEST OR ABOUT 460 MILES...740
KM...NORTH OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS AND ABOUT 660 MILES...1065 KM...
EAST-NORTHEAST OF GRAND TURK ISLAND.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 15 MPH...24 KM/HR. A SLIGHT TURN
TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST IS FORECAST TONIGHT OR EARLY ON
SATURDAY...WITH A TURN BACK TO THE WEST EXPECTED BY SUNDAY. ON
THIS TRACK...IKE COULD BE NEAR THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS AND THE
SOUTHEASTERN BAHAMAS ON SUNDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 125 MPH...205 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. IKE IS A DANGEROUS CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME WEAKENING IS FORECAST DURING
THE NEXT DAY OR TWO...BUT IKE IS STILL FORECAST TO BE A MAJOR
HURRICANE IN A COUPLE OF DAYS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 35 MILES...55 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105
MILES...165 KM.

click here to see projected path of Ike

Our 10th tropical depression now has a name Josephine, Max sustained wind at 40mph, current movement is west at 15 mph. Current center location 13.2 n 25.3 w.

Right behind Tropical Storm Ike, you see another depression that is being monitored at this time will keep you posted as the NOAA center updates its info see the forecasted track for now.