Ike was Cat 4 when it hit Cuba, and was a high Cat 2, nearly a Cat 3, when it hit the U.S. And, as you note, it was HUGE! The surge was more typical of a Cat 4 storm, and much of the damage was from the surge.
It remains to be seen whether Isaac will be that strong at U.S. landfall, but we know Ike was stronger in the early track.
wasn’t Ike the one they were telling residents that didn’t evacuate to use a sharpie to write their name or something on their arms?
By Ike I assume you mean the 2008 hurricane? If so we in the People’s Republic of Illinois got 9” of rain from it, so it must have been one heck of a storm. That’s Northern Illinois at that.