Texans evacuate as Rita strengthens

GALVESTON, Texas - More than 1 million people along the Texas coast fled the approach of Hurricane Rita on Thursday as it developed into one of the most intense storms on record and threatened catastrophic damage.

With winds of 280km/h, the category 5 hurricane churned across the Gulf of Mexico on a course that was expected to take it ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday.

Having learned a lesson from Hurricane Katrina's assault on Louisiana and Mississippi last month, city officials along the Texas coast told residents to clear out and arranged for buses for those who needed help.

Residents of the island city of Galveston, Corpus Christi and low-lying parts of Houston 50 miles inland were among the 1.3 million Texans told to evacuate. Houstonians fleeing their city created bumper-to-bumper traffic jams on interstate highways that lasted well into the night.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who told people along a 483km stretch of coast to leave, said computer projections were prepared for city officials so they could see what could be left underwater after being hit by Rita's storm surge.

"Between Katrina and our preparations for this, people understand this isn't something you're going to play around with," Perry told CNN.

He said 5000 Texas National Guard troops were on standby and 1000 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.

Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett said the evacuation of his city was inspired by Katrina and was going smoothly.

"One of the things we realized that we needed to do here in Corpus Christi was to look at our evacuation plan," he said in a CNN interview. "We felt we needed to evacuate a couple of days earlier than what we had planned on."

As of 2am EDT (6pm NZT), Rita's centre was about 870km east-southeast of Galveston and 1040km east-southeast of Corpus Christi with hurricane-force winds that extended 110km from its centre. It was moving west-northwest at about 15km/h and was expected to quicken its pace, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

The storm developed into the third most intense Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by internal pressure, the hurricane centre said. Rita's maximum sustained winds rising to 281km/h over the warm waters of the Gulf matched the peak strength over water of Katrina, which hit land as a Category 4 storm with 233kmh winds.

The hurricane watch was issued for the US Gulf Coast from Fort Mansfield Texas, to Cameron, Louisiana.

After criticism for a slow response to Katrina, President George W Bush declared emergencies for Texas and Louisiana as Rita approached.

"Federal, state and local governments are coordinating their efforts to get ready," Bush said. "We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm but we've got to be ready for the worst."

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said authorities had positioned supplies and were checking on communications systems. The government sent Coast Guard Rear Adm Larry Hereth to Texas to co-ordinate the response.

New Orleans, flooded by Katrina, was taking no chances. Mayor Ray Nagin said two busloads of people had been evacuated already and 500 other buses were ready.

A FEMA spokesman said Rita was not expected to re-flood New Orleans if the storm stayed on its current westward course.

Financial markets reacted immediately to news the storm had gained strength, with the prospect of more destruction and oil-supply interruptions affecting everything from stocks and the dollar to oil prices.

Oil companies just starting to recover from Katrina evacuated Gulf oil rigs as Rita moved closer. Four Texas refineries were shut down, even as four refineries remained shut in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina.

The Mexican government issued a tropical storm watch for the country's northeast coast from Rio San Fernando northward.

The last major hurricane to hit Houston was Alicia in 1983, a Category 3 storm that killed 22 people. Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 caused extensive flooding in the city and killed more than 40 people across the United States.

- REUTERS