Texas emergency centers on high alert for Rita

Houston Chronicle:

State and local emergency operations centers go on high alert today as Tropical Storm Rita heads into the Gulf of Mexico and Gov. Rick Perry recalls the Texas National Guard and other emergency workers from Louisiana.

In Galveston, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas is expected to call for voluntary evacuation at 2 p.m. today if Rita still is projected to grow into a Category 3 hurricane and continues to threaten a direct hit on the island.

More than 80 city and Galveston school district buses are ready to evacuate people who lack transportation beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Thomas said.

...

"With the potential of another major hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico and threatening the Texas coast, the time is now to begin mobilizing our resources and implementing our plan to ensure an orderly response before Texas is hit," Perry said.

While Texas braced for a possible hit sometime Saturday, Florida residents boarded up windows Monday and evacuated the low-lying Florida Keys as Rita gathered strength in the Bahamas. Officials feared Rita would strengthen and plow into the Keys with a storm surge of 8 feet or higher. Monday night, Rita's center was located about 270 miles southeast of Key West.

The storm had top sustained winds of 70 mph, and it was expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of at least 74 mph, by the time it approached the Keys today.


Current tracking chart.

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