Hurricane news for specific towns in Texas Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
September 24, 2005
Texas - Hurricane Rita slammed into Texas and Louisiana early Saturday, flooding coastal towns, sparking fires and knocking power out to more than 1 million customers, but largely sparing Houston, New Orleans and the region's oil refining industry.
Rita made landfall at 3:30 a.m. EDT as a Category 3 storm just east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana line, bringing top winds of 120 mph. By late morning, it had weakened to barely above hurricane status, with its sustained winds at 75 mph as it moved north near Jasper.
There were no immediate reports of fatalities, though rescuers and search teams in many areas had to wait for winds to subside before venturing out. The Energy Department said it appeared the oil industry had escaped major damage.
About 3 million people had fled a 500-mile stretch of the Texas-Louisiana coast ahead of the storm, motivated in part by the devastating toll that Hurricane Katrina inflicted on New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast barely three weeks ago.
Below are country, city, and town-specific news for various locations in the Texas - Louisiana border area.
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