Read the following article and answer the question.

When I got up Thursday morning , the door to my bathroom was locked and my suitemate was n't home to unlock it . I slipped a note under the door asking her to unlock it and took my toothbrush to work . When I reached work , I pulled up the hurricane tracker and was shocked to find that Ike was headed straight for Houston and mandatory evacuations were in place for part of the county .

What is causing the narrator such panic ?
There is a national emergency coming .