Hurricane Rita assaults Texas, Louisiana
By Erwin Seba
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) – High winds and heavy rains
lashed Texas and Louisiana on Saturday as Hurricane Rita
crashed in from the Gulf of Mexico with a storm surge that was
expected to swamp coastal towns in both states.
After sweeping through key offshore oil fields, the
powerful storm took aim at the coast’s refinery row where much
of the nation’s gasoline and petrochemicals are produced.
A spectacular fire of unknown origin broke out in
Galveston’s historical center and quickly engulfed three
buildings as firefighters struggled to put the blaze out in 60
mph winds. Burning cinders swirled across the sky and on to the
firemen, forcing them to stay well back.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said at 1 a.m. EDT
the center of Rita was 40 miles southeast of Sabine Pass at the
Texas-Louisiana border and moving northwest with top winds of
120 mph (193 kmh).
In Port Arthur and Beaumont in southeastern Texas and Lake
Charles, Louisiana, 60 miles to the east, trees toppled in the
rising winds and streets were littered with blowing debris.
The storm’s projected path reminded many of Hurricane
Audrey, which inundated southwestern Louisiana in 1957, killing
at least 390 people.
“It’s just like Audrey. I was 9 years old and it was
terrible,” said Phillis Carbalan of Lake Charles.
In the island city of Galveston, 50 miles south of Houston,
high winds knocked out power to most of the city, shoved over
street signs and caused utility poles to sway back and forth.
Minor flooding was reported in parts of the city.
Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, was getting
gusty winds and intermittent rains but did not take a direct
blow from Rita.
Forecasters predicted a 15- to 20-foot storm surge would
spill over local levees in the low-lying coastal region.
“This will bring Gulf waters as far north as the Interstate
10 (highway) corridor from Beaumont to Lake Charles,” the
weather service said.
Port Arthur, a refinery town right on the Texas-Louisiana
border, was expected to get severe flooding, they said.
Rita was the second powerful hurricane to strike the Gulf
Coast in less than a month, following Katrina, which devastated
southeastern Louisiana, including the historic city of New
Orleans, and Mississippi, killing at least 1,069 people.
Together, the two storms knocked out nearly all energy
production in the Gulf and 30 percent of the nation’s refining
capacity.
The oil industry was anxiously waiting to see whether major
refineries in Lake Charles, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Houston
would be damaged by Rita.
While grim-face officials warned that Rita could strike a
catastrophic blow, in Galveston’s Poop Deck bar overlooking the
Gulf the mood was light as bar-goers drank and watched the
roiling surf.
“Mother Nature must be a Yankee lady,” said personal chef
Samantha Gallion. “It’s like she’s angry at the southern coast.
She’s hit us all now.”
“I’m joking in the face of disaster, she said.
Most of the storm area was devoid of people after more than
2 million fled the area in a mass evacuation that turned
chaotic in Texas.
Traffic jams 100 miles long clogged highways leading out of
Houston, stranding thousands of motorists who ran out of gas as
they inched along for hours on roads headed inland.
The chaos turned into disaster on Friday when a bus
carrying residents of a Houston nursing home exploded near
Dallas, killing 24 people. Oxygen tanks used by many of the
victims exploded in the fire and turned the bus into a charred
hulk.
Even though Rita hit 200 miles to the west of New Orleans,
the scarred city felt the effects when high tides from the
storm spilled over the city’s fractured levee system.
In scenes eerily reminiscent of the days after Katrina
struck on August 29, water from the city’s industrial canal
filled up streets in the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish
where nearly all the homes are already ruined.