Tracking Rita
11 a.m. EDT: Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, announces that Hurricane Rita is tracking slightly east, which may put New Orleans "on the fringe" of the storm. Rita is still at Category 5 strength despite reducing slightly in strength to 165 mph. The center of the storm is 462 miles from the Texas coast. The hurricane center issues a hurricane warning from the coastal town of Port O'Connor, Texas, about 155 miles southwest of Houston, to Morgan City, La., just 86 miles southwest of New Orleans.
By 8 a.m. EDT, Rita, moving at 9 mph, lies about 490 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. Winds are at 170 mph, down slightly from 175 mph earlier in the day.
The effects of Rita are felt in early morning trading on Wall Street, where crude-oil prices shot up 95 cents to $67.75 a barrel. Gasoline futures increased 10 cents to $2.149 a gallon. Texas is home to the nation's largest oil refineries. Energy trader Phil Flynn on CNN says damage to those refineries could push the cost of gasoline as high as $5 a gallon. Eleven refineries along the Texas coast have shut down by 11 a.m., including Exxon Mobil's Baytown refinery, the largest in the nation.
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