Rita’s Strongest Winds Batter Gulf Coast

BEAUMONT, Texas – Hurricane Rita plowed into the Gulf Coast early Saturday, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, igniting the pre-dawn sky with exploding transformers and threatening to flood the low-lying region.

Rita made landfall at 3:38 a.m. EDT as a Category 3 storm just east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana line, bringing with it a 20-foot storm surge and up to 25 inches of rain, the National Hurricane Center said.

Its 12 mph speed spread worries it would dump nearly 2 feet of rain on flood-prone parts of Texas and Louisiana, spurring tornadoes as it churned north-northwest with winds topping 120 mph.

Texas officials breathed a sigh of relief that Rita spared two flood-prone cities a direct hit. “It looks like the Houston and Galveston area has really lucked out,” said Max Mayfield, director of the center.