I purposely push thoughts out of my mind because I believe in Karma... sometimes it's not easy to do.
11:25 WWL-TV Reporter Shauna Sanford: There are reports of several hundred power outages in Lafayette.
11:05 P.M. - Dr. Marc Levitan - LSU Hurricane Center: Models show us that almost all of Cameron Parish will be under some water.
11:00 P.M. - Levitan: My guess is the jog east will not have much of an effect on New Orleans since Rita is so close to shore.
10:55 P.M. - Levitan: We're only just past the halfway mark of the hurricane season, but the potential is there for more storms since the sea surface temperature in the Gulf is above normal.
10:42 P.M. - BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) -- Meteorologists know that Hurricane Rita has caused flooding to return to New Orleans, but their attention is moving west.
Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center said, "That's where people are going to die."
Hurricane Rita is expected to come ashore early tomorrow on a course that could spare Houston and Galveston but slam the oil refining towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. Lake Charles joins the communities that could get a 20-foot storm surge, towering waves and up to 25 inches of rain. Mayfield said, "All these areas are just going to get absolutely clobbered by the storm surge."
10:10 P.M. - GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- At least three buildings have caught fire in the historic Strand District of Galveston, Texas.
At least one of the buildings was engulfed by flames whipped higher by strong winds from Hurricane Rita. A fallen electric pole was lying on one of the buildings and was burning.
One of the buildings that caught fire was built in 1905, just after the hurricane that destroyed most of Galveston and killed at least 6,000people.
8:08 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- The plan envisioned by Texas officials to ensure an orderly evacuation to avoid scenes of Hurricane Katrina from their cities has left thousands stranded on highways.
Drivers seem to be off the roads by tonight, but their abandoned cars marked with police tape litter the roadside.
Motorists clogged roadways on evacuation orders to get away from Houston. They were stranded, running out of gas and in extreme heat.
Gas trucks rumored to be on the way never came. Neither did buses.