Hurricane Rita-Used to EXPAND
FEDERAL GOV CONTROLS ALREADY
Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:02
207.200.116.199
Texans flee coast as Hurricane Rita approaches
(Filed: 22/09/2005)
More than a million people along the coast of Texas have fled their homes as Hurricane Rita, which has developed into one of the most intense storms on record, draws closer.
Houston residents lined up into the night to leave.
President George W Bush's administration has declared Hurricane Rita a national emergency days before its expected landfall.
Rita, now classified as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of nearly 170 mph, is expected to reach the shore late on Friday or early on Saturday.
The Homeland Security Department declared Rita an "incident of national significance", releasing a quick and massive federal response to the destruction now expected to exceed state and local capabilities. Such a federal designation for Katrina was not triggered until a day after that storm hit three weeks ago.
Residents of the island city of Galveston and low-lying parts of Houston 50 miles inland were among the 1.3 million Texans told to evacuate.
Rick Perry, the Texas governor, said 5,000 Texas National Guard troops were on standby and 1,000 Department of Public Safety officers were along evacuation routes, ready to move in after Rita's landfall.
Shelters for 250,000 evacuees were being established in Huntsville, College Station, San Antonio and Dallas.
Lyda Ann Thomas, the mayor of Galveston, said up to 80 per cent of the vulnerable city's 60,000 residents had left.
New Orleans, still recovering after being flooded by Katrina, is taking no chances this time. Mayor Ray Nagin said two busloads of people had been evacuated already and 500 other buses were ready.
The US National Hurricane Centre warned that the storm was "potentially catastrophic". Only three Category 5 hurricanes, the highest on the scale, are known to have hit the American mainland - most recently, Hurricane Andrew, which struck south Florida in 1992.
However, Katrina was also a Category 5 storm when it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It had weakened to a Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds by the time it made landfall.
(Filed: 22/09/2005)
More than a million people along the coast of Texas have fled their homes as Hurricane Rita, which has developed into one of the most intense storms on record, draws closer.
Houston residents lined up into the night to leave.
President George W Bush's administration has declared Hurricane Rita a national emergency days before its expected landfall.
Rita, now classified as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of nearly 170 mph, is expected to reach the shore late on Friday or early on Saturday.
The Homeland Security Department declared Rita an "incident of national significance", releasing a quick and massive federal response to the destruction now expected to exceed state and local capabilities. Such a federal designation for Katrina was not triggered until a day after that storm hit three weeks ago.
Residents of the island city of Galveston and low-lying parts of Houston 50 miles inland were among the 1.3 million Texans told to evacuate.
Rick Perry, the Texas governor, said 5,000 Texas National Guard troops were on standby and 1,000 Department of Public Safety officers were along evacuation routes, ready to move in after Rita's landfall.
Shelters for 250,000 evacuees were being established in Huntsville, College Station, San Antonio and Dallas.
Lyda Ann Thomas, the mayor of Galveston, said up to 80 per cent of the vulnerable city's 60,000 residents had left.
New Orleans, still recovering after being flooded by Katrina, is taking no chances this time. Mayor Ray Nagin said two busloads of people had been evacuated already and 500 other buses were ready.
The US National Hurricane Centre warned that the storm was "potentially catastrophic". Only three Category 5 hurricanes, the highest on the scale, are known to have hit the American mainland - most recently, Hurricane Andrew, which struck south Florida in 1992.
However, Katrina was also a Category 5 storm when it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It had weakened to a Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds by the time it made landfall.
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