Rita

[Orange_Parasol]

Bigger than Texas: Hurricane Rita.


Rita savages US
By ADAM HARVEY in Houston
25sep05

HURRICANE Rita weakened slightly before her leading winds blew ashore in Louisiana and Texas last night, but even those first forays of the powerful storm caused flooding and widespread damage along a 300km front.

The ravaged suburbs of New Orleans were among the first areas to suffer as water poured over weakened sections of the city's Industrial Canal levee and flooded streets that had only just dried out after Hurricane Katrina.
Rita, a slow-moving Category 3 storm, was expected to pass to the east of Houston and Galveston, hitting the oil and chemical towns of Port Arthur and Beaumont, before stalling over the centre of the state -- compounding damage by blasting the area with 200km/h winds for at least 12 hours.

Meteorologists said the storm might dump up to 60cm of rain during that time -- more than many areas of Texas receive in a year.

The rainfall and storm surge was expected to cause flooding in coastal towns such as Port Arthur, which sits only 2m above sea level.

The excruciating slowness of the evacuation of southern Texas was worsened yesterday by a horrendous road accident just south of Dallas. Twenty-four people died when a bus carrying elderly residents of a nursing home caught fire just before dawn.

Motorists and officers from the Dallas County Sherriff's department pulled about 18 people off the bus before exploding oxygen canisters forced them away.

"There was mass hysteria, screaming," said 78-year-old Harry Wilson, a stroke victim who is paralysed down one side. Most of the others on the bus suffered from similar conditions and could not flee on their own.

The nursing home residents had been stuck in a 160km traffic snarl made worse by the many drivers who had stopped because they ran out of fuel.

The jams on the highway infuriated locals who obeyed government commands to evacuate, only to find themselves in a worse position than if they had stayed at home.

The Texas Government had promised petrol tankers, but when they had still not arrived by 9am, local authorities dispatched officers armed with enough fuel and jerry cans to give people a chance to reach safety.

Army convoys also attempted to deliver fuel to petrol stations and stranded motorists, but many people who had planned to drive out of southern Texas simply turned around and went home to chance their luck.

President Bush watched the storm's progress from the Homeland Security centre in Colorado Springs.

[jstar953]

so, so sad .. i was listening on the radio last night and i heard that like a day before Rita was due to hit he stopped people from evacuating so now theyre stuck ..

my heart goes out to them ..

[Bioda]

It's quite terrible.

[Moose]

Better than Katrina, Hah.
Well because of this weather we will get higher gas prices! YAY!.