One Million Evacuated Ahead of Hurricane Rita
One Million People Evacuating Ahead of Rita
www.theinfozone.net
An estimated one million people have received evacuation orders
to leave their homes ahead of Hurricane Rita. From Galveston, to
Houston, people are finishing up efforts to secure their homes
and getting ready to clear out along the Gulf Coast. Hospitals
and nursing homes are evacuating their patients. Hurricane Rita
has grown into a Category-5, 165-mph extremely dangerous
hurricane that could make landfall in Texas by the weekend.
There are concerns that wind and rain from Hurricane Rita could
also inflict further damage on already weakened levees in New
Orleans.
Weather forecasters state that Hurricane Rita may be the most
powerful hurricane to ever to hit Texas. If Hurricane Rita
remains at a Category 5 storm, it could also be one of the most
powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall on the U.S. mainland.
A Category 5 storm is the highest storm recorded on the NOAA's
storm ranking scale. Hurricane Andrew, which made landfall in
South Florida in 1992 is the last Category 5 hurricane to make
landfall in the USA.
Texas has already activated 5000 State National Guardsmen in
response to Hurricane Rita.
President Bush States FEMA is Ready for Rita
Scott McClellan, the President's Press Secretary stated, "We are
taking it very seriously. We urge everyone in the path of
Hurricane Rita to take it seriously. We urge citizens in the
path of Hurricane Rita to listen closely to state and local
authorities and follow their advice. Secretary Chertoff has
designated Coast Guard Admiral Hereth to be the point person for
overseeing the federal preparedness and response efforts in the
region. He is based out of the joint field office in Austin,
Texas."
McClellan continued, "The Department of Homeland Security and
FEMA have been pre-positioning food, water, ice and emergency
response teams in Texas. The food and water and the ice and the
tarps and generators are being pre-positioned at Fort Sam
Houston in San Antonio, Texas. They are assisting with
evacuation efforts that are underway. There are evacuation
efforts underway in areas of Texas and Louisiana, including
Galveston and New Orleans. Military assets are being
repositioned, or pre-positioned, so that they are able to deploy
those assets as needed immediately after the storm makes
landfall and passes that region, that part of the region."
"The U.S. Coast Guard, as the President was updated yesterday,
has been working to, what they termed, "buttoning down the
ports," and that means moving some ships and tying ships down
and making sure that they're as secure as possible."
President Bush, from the Whitehouse has spoken by phone with
Governors Blanco and Perry. The President participated in a
briefing Tuesday, with the Governors. Federal officials are very
aware that any relief efforts in this storm will be very closely
watched to see if FEMA and other agencies respond better than
during Hurricane Katrina.
The White House remains very aware and sensitive to the feeling
that the administration "dropped the ball" on Katrina. McClellan
said today, "Katrina, that was a storm that was unprecedented in
size and scope and devastation. It is something that we want to
make sure all the lessons possible are learned, and we want to
make sure that we know exactly what worked and what didn't work.
And that's why we are working closely with Congress as they move
forward on their investigation. That's why the President has
tasked his Homeland Security Council to make sure that there is
a comprehensive review of the preparedness and response relating
to Katrina, so we're doing that."
With Hurricane Rita already larger than Hurricane Katrina, one
can only hope those lessons have been learned well.