HOUSTON -- The death toll from Hurricane Ike now stands at 30 in eight states.

Many of the dead are far to the north of the Gulf Coast that the storm savaged on Saturday. Instead, they've come as Ike slogged across the nation's midsection, leaving a trail of flooding and destruction.

Meanwhile, thousands of Gulf Coast residents face long stays in crowded shelters after the storm damaged or destroyed their homes upon landfall near Galveston. Glass-strewn Houston was placed under a week-long curfew, and millions of people in the storm's path remained in the dark.

Rescuers say they've saved almost 2,000 people from waterlogged streets and splintered houses by Sunday afternoon. Many had ignored evacuation orders and tried to ride out the storm. Now they're boarding buses for indefinite stays at shelters in San Antonio and Austin.

In hard-hit towns like Orange, Bridge City and Galveston, authorities continued their door-to-door search well into Sunday night and are resuming it Monday morning. They hope to find an untold number of people still in their homes and alive, albeit without power or supplies.