Rita Roars through Gulf, Texans Flee Coast
Date: 23-Sep-05
Country: USA
Author: Erwin Seba
The path of Rita, downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane when its winds fell to 145 mph, shifted northward and appeared to be headed slightly east of Galveston and Houston, the National Hurricane Center said.
But officials warned the storm remained unpredictable.
"I don't think anyone in the Gulf Coast is out of harm's way," said David Paulison, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Drivers waited hours to move on jammed highways from southern Texas into Louisiana as coastal residents, heeding the lessons of Hurricane Katrina, headed inland to escape one of the most intense storms on record.
"It's an absolute nightmare," said John Griffin, 37, who turned back to Houston with his wife and two daughters after trying for several hours to drive farther inland.
As Rita neared, Exxon Mobil said it was closing the largest US oil refinery in Baytown, Texas and another in Beaumont, 90 miles (144 km) east.
The closings, combined with earlier shutdowns because of Katrina three weeks ago, raised to at least 13 the number of US refineries out of commission. Together, the storms shut more than 28 percent of US refining capacity, raising the specter of serious gasoline shortages in the days ahead.
The storm's projected track, which on Wednesday threatened to clobber Galveston and Houston, slowly moved up the coast. The revised path would spare the Gulf Coast's largest population center Rita's full brunt.
"We may dodge a bullet in Houston, Texas," Gov. Rick Perry said. "But I'd rather sit in traffic for eight to 12 hours than take a chance it doesn't change any farther to the east. We're talking about people's lives here."
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged coastal communities to evacuate as forecasts indicated Rita would come closer than previously thought to the state, still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, which struck Aug. 29.
"Rita has Louisiana in her sights and we must move," Blanco told state residents in a televised news conference.
As of 4 p.m. EDT, Rita's center was about 405 miles southeast of Galveston and 390 miles southeast of Port Arthur with hurricane-force winds that extended 85 miles from its center. It was moving west-northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
LOSING STEAM BUT STILL STRONG
Rita was expected to continue losing some steam as it neared land, but was still forecast to hit Texas late Friday or early Saturday as no less than a Category 3 storm with winds of up to 130 mph (209 kph).
Katrina was a Category 4 storm.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Port O'Connor, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana.
With Rita shifting to the north, Corpus Christi lifted its mandatory evacuation. Officials said Galveston, a barrier island that remains prone to mass destruction despite the new forecast, was 90 percent empty.
"Galveston is going to suffer," City Manager Steve LeBlanc said.
As of midday, the city was braced for a 15- to 20-foot (4.5- to 6-metre) storm surge. However, its shoreline is protected by a 17-foot (5-metre) seawall built after the city was wiped out in a 1900 hurricane that killed 8,000 people in the worst US natural disaster.
Not everyone heeded the warnings, though.
Marie Aldrich, bar manager of the Poop Deck on the seawall, was open for business and posted a sign reading "No Rita Unless It's a Margarita."
Houston, meanwhile, saw its outbound freeways gridlocked, with fights reported at filling stations and many evacuees running out of fuel on the highways.
The state dispatched fuel trucks to serve stranded motorists. Also, state officials made Interstate 45 a one-way highway for about 80 miles into northern Texas, easing a 100-mile traffic jam leading from the coast.
"I don't think they would have made this big a deal about it before, but Katrina has made everybody want to get out," said Karen Mclinjoy, who was in a Houston traffic jam t
