23 September 2005
A weakened but still powerful Hurricane Rita altered its course Thursday to threaten residents in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, where highways were overloaded with frustrated evacuees.
Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said Rita will hit a deep trench of warm water and could intensify overnight, possibly to Category 5 status.
Mayfield said forecasters expect Rita to make landfall Saturday morning likely between Galveston, Texas, and the Louisiana border.
"This is still a very, very dangerous Category 4 hurricane. We'll likely see some fluctuations. ... but the wise thing to do is to go ahead and plan for a Category 4 hurricane making landfall," Mayfield said.
With the hurricane generating winds of tropical storm force extending 205 miles (335 kilometers) from the center, some areas in Louisiana already were feeling Rita's outer bands. (Watch a report on the science behind monster storms -- 3:50)
Highways in Texas were crammed with cars creeping north, the blistering heat adding to the discomfort of the hundreds of thousands fleeing the storm.
"We've traveled approximately 20 miles in nine hours with two sheepdogs," said Nick Nichols, who headed out of Houston at 6 a.m. "The orders were to evacuate from Houston, and ... we're out here on a parking lot." (Watch Texas residents heed evacuation warnings -- 2:07)
Late Thursday, Houston Mayor Bill White said that except for people who live in high-risk areas near the water, those still at home should stay put, especially given the traffic conditions and an unanticipated fuel shortage.
"Now is not the time to get into your car to start the evacuation," White said. "We will get people who are stranded on the roadside off the roadside before the storm comes in," he said. "That is our commitment."
Gas stations along some of the major roads out of Houston and Beaumont, to the east, were running low on gas, said Steven McCraw, director of the governor's division of emergency management.
Some Houston residents tried various routes out of the city only to become so flustered they returned home and thought about riding out the storm. Other Texans on gridlocked roads pushed their cars to help conserve fuel.
Officials said traffic would be allowed to drive north for 100 miles in the southbound lanes of Interstate 45, the major route to Dallas.
Tornado threat
The National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. ET advisory placed Rita's center about 350 miles (565 kilometers) southeast of Galveston and moving west-northwest at 10 mph (17 kph) with top sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph), making it a Category 4 storm. (Watch how Galveston is in a precarious location -- 1:58)
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras warned that tornadoes could be spawned in Rita's northeast quadrant, in Texas and Louisiana.
She said if the storm stalls over Texas, there was potential for more than 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain in some areas.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Port O'Connor, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana, meaning hurricane conditions such as sustained winds of at least 74 mph (118 kph) are possible within 24 hours.
New Orleans, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, was under a tropical storm warning, meaning sustained winds of at least 39 mph (62 kph) are expected within the next 24 hours.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged residents in the state's coastal parishes to immediately evacuate northward.
"As you know, Rita took a turn to the east last night and southwest Louisiana is now in danger," she said Thursday. "I'm urging everyone to evacuate now."
Shelters have been set up in the northern part of the state, she said. (Full story)
New flood fears for New Orleans
In New Orleans, which was recently pronounced "basically dry" by the Army Corps of Engineers, there were fears of impending heavy rain.
"There is going to be rainfall potential of 3 to 5 inches [7.6 to 12.7 centimeters] over the next 12 to 24 hours," Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the hurricane center, said Thursday afternoon.
The corps was working to shore up the city's fragile series of earthen levees and concrete flood walls. Brig. Gen. Bruce A. Berwick said he expected the repairs to hold and anticipated flooding of between 2 and 4 feet (0.7 and 1.3 meters). (Full story)
Officials started closing the flood gates around Lake Pontchartrain Thursday morning in preparation for Rita.
More than 1,000 deaths, most in Louisiana, are blamed on Hurricane Katrina, which struck August 29after slamming Florida a few days earlier.
Residents take warnings seriously
Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas told CNN that at least 75 percent of the city's 58,000 residents had evacuated by Thursday morning.
"We hope that whoever is left here ... will move on out today," Thomas said.
Galveston was flattened by a hurricane in 1900. At least 7,000 people were killed. (Watch a report on the storm of the century -- 2:00)
R. David Paulison, acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said support teams and supplies were being moved from Florida to Texas as Rita's landfall nears.
Fourteen urban search and rescue teams comprising 800 members as well as 400 medical personnel were being put in place, he said.
He said the Department of Defense was helping to set up field hospitals to accommodate 2,500 beds, providing materials to build temporary bridges in case of serious damage to infrastructure, and organizing food kitchens. In addition, the Department of Transportation was providing buses for evacuations.
Several refineries, which process about 3 million barrels of oil each day, could be threatened by Rita. Some energy analysts predict that disruption from the storm could trigger a surge in gas prices. (Watch Rita's threat to oil supplies -- 1:31)
CNN's Jacqui Jeras contributed to this report.
