Ike projected to cause billions in damage

(CNN) - Hurricane Ike, whose mammoth size dwarfs the Texas coastline, is on track to deliver severe damage that may end up second only to Katrina, according to a hurricane risk-assessment computer program.

The program, HAZUS-MH, used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has churned out grim projections. It predicts Ike will cause $11.8 billion in damage, including $10 billion in property damage.

The Category 2 storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday near Galveston, and by that time may have strengthened to a Category 3, forecasters say. Ike is 900 miles wide, measuring the cloud cover at its widest point. Its eye alone is 60 miles across. n Friday, its tropical storm-force winds extended up to 275 miles - the length of the Texas coastline - from its center, for a total reach of about 550 miles.