She definitely brought CAT4 pressure and storm surge with her. Winds, borderline probably. CAT3 / CAT4 really doesn't matter. There is extensive damage that hasn't been reported yet in Louisiana. Which means more federal money for Lousiana... grrr. We are going to end up dropping 300billion in that state before all is said and done.
I also was reading that Rita was about to drop another 10-20mb from 898 but it started sucking up dry air off Texas. Texas really dodged the bullet on this one. Thank God that high receded.
If you had to pick a place for Rita to come ashore between Houston and New Orleans, I'm not sure you could do better than what she did.
I don't mind spending the money on fixing things, otherwise it's like surrendering to mother nature. We're only talking less than one year's defense budget here.
Ok we can't win, but we can fight to a draw, or at least try.
What I won't do though, is spend it on new Vuitton purse for Ms. Blanco.
Her and her cronies are the cork in the bottle.
With them in place, nothing goes in and nothing comes out. That's my take on it.