Rita didn’t end up hitting Houston. Never can be certain.
It hit Orange and went up the mid-west flooding northwest Ohio.
We were told to “shelter in place” during Hurricane Ike which was a direct hit on Houston (cat 3).
I left during Rita because I could tell that things were going to be closed for days and days even if there was no rain. And it would be worse had the rain come.
The point being you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. More people were killed in auto accidents than were killed during the storm. That’s the theme of the article.