Tracking Rita
8:00 p.m. EDT: The National Hurricane Center releases Hurricane Rita update. Outer rain bands have spread across southern Louisiana as the center of Hurricane Rita is now 35 miles east-southeast of Galveston. Rita is moving west-northwest at a speed of 10 mph with sustained winds of 145 mph.
5:00 p.m. EDT: The National Weather Service reports that Rita is swerving eastward, perhaps sparing the Houston and Galveston areas a direct hit. Though still unpredictable, the storm is likely to strike southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, which could mean more trouble for New Orleans. The storm is now swirling 405 miles off the coast.
5:00 p.m. EDT: National Weather Service upgrades the tropical storm watch for the New Orleans area to a tropical storm warning. Despite the bad news, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he's heartened by the fact that the city has succeeded in evacuating most of its inhabitants and that the 82nd Airborne will hunker down in New Orleans as it continues its mission to assist in delivering aid and law enforcement to the New Orleans area. About 2,000 National Guard troops will also ride out the storm in New Orleans and assist in the aftermath. "We should be in pretty good shape," says Nagin.
4:50 p.m. EDT: In an interview with CNN, Houston Mayor White calls the conversion of southbound lanes on major evacuation routes "unacceptably late." White says traffic is now flowing and congestion is being monitored by helicopter.
4:20 p.m. EDT: In a press conference, Houston Mayor Bill White assures consumers that once the storm has passed, Houston's oil refineries "can deliver a lot of fuel very quickly." Houston area officials also say the forecast has improved slightly for Houston after Hurricane Rita was downgraded to a Category 4.
Also by 4:20 p.m. EDT: The Houston Chronicle reports that the city's Greyhound bus station stopped selling tickets out of town by noon today. A spokesman says Greyhound employees are pleading with would-be travelers to find other ways out of the city, as their buses cannot carry any more passengers. In New Orleans, meanwhile, dark clouds heavy with rain continue to move in, bringing wind and rain. As the storm bears down, construction crews are toiling to reinforce the damaged levee system.
3:55 p.m. EDT: Tom Harvey, spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, reports that state parks are filling up with Rita evacuees, who can stay at the parks without charge until the storm passes. At Lake Livingston State Park, normally about two hours straight north of Houston, evacuees are reporting treks from Houston that took as long as 24 hours. About half of the camp's 171 sites are now occupied by people fleeing the hurricane. Further west, at Lake Somerville State Park, 40 sites are full of evacuees. Other state parks are bracing for a crush of people unable to find hotels or other shelter.
3:35 p.m. EDT: At a New Orleans press conference, Vice Adm. Thad Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard says the National Guard has identified 6,000 troops for service in the area impacted by Rita. An additional 15,000 are still needed. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the commander of the joint task force for Katrina, says the Navy has five vessels floating off the coast of Florida. They are tracking Hurricane Rita as it moves toward the Gulf Coast and will be positioned to assist the area with medical capability and 800 Marines as soon as the storm has passed.
3:30 p.m. EDT: DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff declares Rita an "incident of national significance," a designation that puts into action the Federal Response Plan, a 426-page disaster manual that places Chertoff and DHS in charge of the federal response. Chertoff did not make such a designation for Hurricane Katrina until late in the evening on Tuesday, August 30, more than 24 hours after Katrina made landfall and almost a full day after the levees broke in New Orleans. "We're making no assumptions," says Russ Knocke, press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, "and we're not wasting a second."
By 3:15 p.m. EDT: After a half day of struggles with unprecedented traffic congestion, local authorities succeed in converting most southbound lanes on major evacuation routes from Houston to northbound lanes.
2:40 p.m. EDT: Acting FEMA Director David Paulison says relief supplies, including more than a hundred trucks of water, ice, and food, are moving into place on the outskirts of the expected storm. Addressing the 14-hour delays on major evacuation routes out of the Houston area, Paulison says, "We still feel we have plenty of time to get people out of harm's way." He advises families to pack a laundry list of supplies, including a three-day supply of water and food, as well as flashlights, batteries, and medicine. Small children should wear identification bracelets so that they can be quickly returned to their parents if they are separated. Paulison cautions frustrated drivers not to return to their homes, as some are doing. Those drivers left on the roads when Rita makes landfall will be ushered to emergency shelters by local officials.
By 2 p.m. EDT: Galveston has evacuated 90 percent of its residents. About 3,200, including many elderly and ill, have taken public transportation to shelters while Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas and key personnel are hunkering down in the San Luis Resort, located on the foundation of the former Fort Crockett, built in 1897. The resort boasts 18-foot seawalls.
Across the region, oil refineries and chemical plants continue to shut down. NASA's Johnson Space Center has already been closed for 24 hours and will not reopen until the storm has passed. Primary control of the International Space Center was transferred to Russian Mission Control. A skeleton crew will ride out the storm at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, already affected by Katrina.
On Wall Street the mood lightens as Hurricane Rita loses intensity. Oil futures fall as the Dow Jones industrial average picks up 40 points. Some analysts still predict prices at the pump could reach $4 to $5 a gallon.
1:45 p.m. EDT: The National Hurricane Center downgrades Hurricane Rita to Category 4, with sustained winds of about 150 mph. While further weakening is expected over the next 24 hours, the center warns that Rita "remains an extremely dangerous hurricane." The storm is 435 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving west-northwest at 9 mph.
1:30 p.m. EDT: The Texas Department of Transportation announces the contra-flow plan for Houston's Interstate 45, converting southbound lanes to northbound, has been implemented. The span of one-way traffic is 80 miles long. Early evacuees reported a 13-hour trek from Houston to Dallas–usually a four-hour jaunt. By midafternoon Thursday, the evacuation had come to a near standstill, with vehicles on I-45 moving about 10 miles over the course of half a day.
1:20 p.m EDT: The estimated number of evacuees jumps from 1.3 million to 1.8 million. The Houston Chronicle reports that the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority will shut down bus service at 2 p.m. CDT. Train service will continue until 9 p.m. CDT.
1 p.m. EDT: Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, speaking from Baton Rouge, La.: "I cannot say this strongly enough. Rita will hit Louisiana." Blanco again urges residents, particularly those in low-lying coastal areas, to "evacuate now." Advising people to plan carefully, Blanco reminds people to pack with care and be sure to include any necessary medications.
In Houston, Mayor Bill White gives a simultaneous news conference. Regional airports are experiencing major delays because of the failure of TSA personnel to show up for work. Those without reservations should not go to the airport, White says, as they will be unable to evacuate via plane. Those with reservations will still experience delays of up to four hours. Those in acute care "should not drive up to hospital doors," White says. People in need of medical attention should work through the Emergency Management System.
12:50 p.m. EDT: Texas Gov. Rick Perry asks drivers to exercise patience as he announces fuel trucks are being positioned along evacuation routes. "We'll get fuel to those who are low or out" of gas. The region is experiencing "gridlock even monumental by Houston standards." Perry has also requested 10,000 federal troops from President Bush to be prepositioned in the region. The troops will join 5,000 members of the National Guard. The White House has announced that the president will visit Texas on Friday.
12:37 p.m. EDT: A broken-down car on a service road to Interstate 45 hobbles traffic out of Houston, which has been at a near standstill since the early-morning hours. Across the region, drivers are losing their patience as breakdowns are coupled with vehicles running out of gas as they crawl along evacuation routes.
Noon EDT: Speaking from the Pentagon about the war on terrorism, President Bush addressed the mounting threat of Hurricane Rita. "Officials of every level of government are prepared for the worst."
By noon, the outer bands of Rita have reached New Orleans, bringing wind and rain. With a forecast of 3 to 5 inches of rainfall and a possible 5-foot storm surge, fears are raised anew that the already compromised levee system could fail again. Officials estimate that 10 percent of New Orleans is still underwater from Hurricane Katrina. The state of Texas orders the reversal of southbound lanes on Interstate 45 out of Houston to facilitate the flow of traffic northward. An estimated 1.3 million people are fleeing Texas and Louisiana under mandatory evacuation orders. Meanwhile, Rita continues to take its toll on the national economy, in midday trading. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.66, or 0.12 percent, to 10,365.37. The Nasdaq dropped 9.92 to 2096.72, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell 2.92 to 1207.28.
11:15 a.m. EDT: Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urges coastal Louisiana residents to evacuate their homes. "Do all that you can to protect your family." Residents are advised to flee north, avoiding Texas and other areas in the possible path of the storm. Buses are mobilizing in New Orleans, where merchants have been doing brisk business selling food and relief supplies to locals planning to ride out the storm, despite a mandatory evacuation. Blanco also announces that thousands of National Guard troops from Louisiana and across the country will be waiting at the fringe of the storm's expected path to provide immediate assistance to victims. With interstates in southern Louisiana and Texas already jammed with evacuees, many of whom have run out of gas because of the traffic delays, Blanco urges residents to avoid major roadways and to be resourceful.
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.