More than 1 million people along the Texas coast fled the approach of Hurricane Rita on Thursday as it developed into one of the most intense storms on record and threatened catastrophic damage.
With winds of 175 mph (280 kph), the Category 5 hurricane churned across the Gulf of Mexico on a course that was expected to take it ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday.
Having learned a lesson from Hurricane Katrina's assault on Louisiana and Mississippi last month, city officials along the Texas coast told residents to clear out and arranged for buses for those who needed help.
Residents of the island city of Galveston, Corpus Christi and low-lying parts of Houston 50 miles inland were among the 1.3 million Texans told to evacuate. Houstonians fleeing their city created bumper-to-bumper traffic jams on interstate highways that lasted well into the night.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who told people along a 300-mile (483 km) stretch of coast to leave, said computer projections were prepared for city officials so they could see what could be left underwater after being hit by Rita's storm surge.
"Between Katrina and our preparations for this, people understand this isn't something you're going to play around with," Perry told CNN.
He said 5,000 Texas National Guard troops were on standby and 1,000 Department of Public Safety officers were along evacuation routes, ready to move in after Rita's landfall. Shelters for 250,000 evacuees were being established in Huntsville, College Station, San Antonio and Dallas.
Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett said the evacuation of his city was inspired by Katrina and was going smoothly.
"One of the things we realized that we needed to do here in Corpus Christi was to look at our evacuation plan," he said in a CNN interview. "We felt we needed to evacuate a couple of days earlier than what we had planned on."
As of 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT), Rita's center was about 540 miles (870 km) east-southeast of Galveston and 645 miles (1,040 km) east-southeast of Corpus Christi with hurricane-force winds that extended 70 miles (110 km) from its center. It was moving west-northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph) and was expected to quicken its pace, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm developed into the third most intense Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by internal pressure, the hurricane center said. Rita's maximum sustained winds rising to 175 mph (281 kph) over the warm waters of the Gulf matched the peak strength over water of Katrina, which hit land as a Category 4 storm with 145 mph (233 kph) winds.
The hurricane watch was issued for the U.S. Gulf Coast from Fort Mansfield Texas, to Cameron, Louisiana.
After criticism for a slow response to Katrina, President George W. Bush declared emergencies for Texas and Louisiana as Rita approached.
Source
With winds of 175 mph (280 kph), the Category 5 hurricane churned across the Gulf of Mexico on a course that was expected to take it ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday.
Having learned a lesson from Hurricane Katrina's assault on Louisiana and Mississippi last month, city officials along the Texas coast told residents to clear out and arranged for buses for those who needed help.
Residents of the island city of Galveston, Corpus Christi and low-lying parts of Houston 50 miles inland were among the 1.3 million Texans told to evacuate. Houstonians fleeing their city created bumper-to-bumper traffic jams on interstate highways that lasted well into the night.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who told people along a 300-mile (483 km) stretch of coast to leave, said computer projections were prepared for city officials so they could see what could be left underwater after being hit by Rita's storm surge.
"Between Katrina and our preparations for this, people understand this isn't something you're going to play around with," Perry told CNN.
He said 5,000 Texas National Guard troops were on standby and 1,000 Department of Public Safety officers were along evacuation routes, ready to move in after Rita's landfall. Shelters for 250,000 evacuees were being established in Huntsville, College Station, San Antonio and Dallas.
Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett said the evacuation of his city was inspired by Katrina and was going smoothly.
"One of the things we realized that we needed to do here in Corpus Christi was to look at our evacuation plan," he said in a CNN interview. "We felt we needed to evacuate a couple of days earlier than what we had planned on."
As of 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT), Rita's center was about 540 miles (870 km) east-southeast of Galveston and 645 miles (1,040 km) east-southeast of Corpus Christi with hurricane-force winds that extended 70 miles (110 km) from its center. It was moving west-northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph) and was expected to quicken its pace, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm developed into the third most intense Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by internal pressure, the hurricane center said. Rita's maximum sustained winds rising to 175 mph (281 kph) over the warm waters of the Gulf matched the peak strength over water of Katrina, which hit land as a Category 4 storm with 145 mph (233 kph) winds.
The hurricane watch was issued for the U.S. Gulf Coast from Fort Mansfield Texas, to Cameron, Louisiana.
After criticism for a slow response to Katrina, President George W. Bush declared emergencies for Texas and Louisiana as Rita approached.
Source