HOUSTON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike weakened to become a tropical storm as it headed north across Texas on Saturday, after making landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 2 hurricane, paralyzing Houston and flooding Galveston and other coastal areas.

At 2 p.m. CDT (1900 GMT) on Saturday, Ike's center was just southeast of Palestine, Texas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm carried top sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kph), making it a tropical storm, and was moving north near 16 mph (26 kph).

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