Hurricane Rita: 1 million must get out

2005-09-23 14:30

Galveston - President George W Bush ordered a state of emergency in Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday as Hurricane Rita was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, said the White House.

The measure will open up special federal funds for the southern states.

Hospital and nursing-home patients were evacuated and as many as one million other people were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as Hurricane Rita turned into a 241km/h monster that could pound Texas and bring more misery to New Orleans by the week's end.

Forecasters said Rita could be the most-intense hurricane on record to hit Texas, and one of the most-powerful to slam into the United States mainland.

All of Galveston, low-lying sections of Houston and Corpus Christi, and a mostly emptied-out New Orleans were under mandatory evacuation orders, one day after Rita sideswiped the Florida Keys as a far-weaker storm and caused minor damage.

Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did three weeks ago, many people were taking no chances.

Rescue, medical teams on standby

Barbara Anders, 65, said: "I really think it is going to be bad. That's really why I'm running.

"All these years, I've stayed here, but I've got to go this time.

"I don't have but one life and it is time for me to go."

The federal government rushed hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals to the Gulf Coast and put rescue and medical teams on standby.

By early afternoon, Rita, like Katrina, was a Category 4 storm, and was centred more than 1 126km southeast of Corpus Christi.

Forecasters predicted it would come ashore on Saturday along the central Texas coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi. But even a slight rightward turn could prove devastating to New Orleans.

The last major hurricane to hit Texas was Alicia in 1983. It flooded downtown Houston, spawned 22 tornadoes and left 21 people dead. The damage from the Category 3 storm was put at more than $2bn.

Most-intense hurricane yet to hit Texas

Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu said in New York: "Let's hope that the hurricane does not hit at a Category 4 strength and let's hope the lessons we've learned - the painful, tragic lessons that have been learnt in the last few weeks - will best prepare us for what could happen with Rita."

Rita, based on its present internal pressure, would be the most-intense hurricane yet to strike Texas, stronger even than an unnamed storm that hit Indianola in 1886. Accurate wind speed measurements are not available that far back.

Only three Category 5 hurricanes are known to have hit the US mainland - the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane, Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992.

Also, the mainland has never been hit by two Category 4 storms in the same year, according to government forecasters.

- AP