Free Republic

Category 3 Hurricane Rita became the fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season during the night. Hurricane Rita threaded the needle through the Florida Straits and moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Storm damage in the Florida Keys and South Florida Peninsula was light, with scattered power outages, scattered tornados, and mild to moderate flooding. Mandatory evacuations are in effect for Galveston County TX and New Orleans. Additional evacuation orders in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area are anticipated throughout the day. Crude oil prices reacted as oil producers shut down and evacuated workers from platforms in the Gulf of Mexico....

Officials have called for mandatory evacuations ahead of Hurricane Rita. The order is for every one living in Galveston County. People in medical centers and nursing homes to start at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Residential evacuations start at 6 p.m. The county's evacuation plan calls for the evacuation of residents in phases. Several of the cities within Galveston County had called emergency sessions of their councils and commissions Tuesday evening to make declarations of emergency. Under an emergency declaration the mayors of the cities can impose a curfew, restrict access to areas of the community that may suffer storm damage as...

Excerpt - GALVESTON - With the National Hurricane Center's official forecast naming Galveston as Rita's most likely Gulf Coast target later this week, island officials are calling for a voluntary evacuation and considering a mandatory evacuation. Activating its emergency management plan this afternoon, Galveston asked residents to voluntarily leave in preparation of Rita, which is a tropical storm now but is expected to strengthen into a hurricane when it moves into the Gulf later today. By the time it hits the Gulf Coast on Saturday morning, it is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane. The evacuation is to begin...