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Angry Rita Lashes Texas-Louisiana Border

Posted on: Saturday, 24 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

The main fury of Hurricane Rita slammed ashore early Saturday near the Texas-Louisiana border.

At 4 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of the dangerous Category 3 hurricane was near Port Arthur, Texas, and preparations to protect life and property should have already been completed.

Sporting winds near 120 mph, at 4 a.m. Rita was moving northwest at near 12 mph, and a gradual turn toward the north was expected. That meant the center of Rita could be over southeastern Texas into Saturday.

The hurricane center said Rita should weaken as it gets farther inland.

Though the tropical storm warning was discontinued south of Port O'Connor, Texas, it remained in effect for the southeastern coast of Louisiana east of Morgan City to the mouth of the Pearl River, including battered metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, and from south of Sargent, Texas, to Port O'Connor.

Hurricane winds extended outward up to 85 miles from the center, the hurricane center in Miami said. At 4 a.m. EDT, an instrumented tower in Port Arthur run by the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program has just reported sustained winds of 91 mph with a gust of 116 mph, the center said.

Coastal storm surge flooding was 15 feet above normal tide levels, locally up to 20 feet at the heads of bays and rivers. Tides were expected to be 4 to 6 feet above normal along southeast Louisiana and Mississippi, and residents were told to expect coastal flooding.

Ten to 15 inches of rain were expected over eastern Texas and western Louisiana because of the slow movement of the storm over land.

The hurricane center said isolated tornadoes were possible Saturday and Saturday night over far eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Arkansas and Mississippi.

Source: United Press International

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