Free Republic

HOUSTON – Hurricane Rita closed in on the Texas Gulf Coast and the heart of the U.S. oil-refining industry with howling 145 mph winds Thursday, but a sharper-than-expected turn to the right set it on a course that could spare Houston and nearby Galveston a direct hit. The storm's march toward land sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the nation's fourth-largest city in a frustratingly slow, bumper-to-bumper exodus. "This is the worst planning I've ever seen," said Judie Anderson, who covered just 45 miles in 12 hours after setting out from her home in the Houston suburb of LaPorte....

Running out of time Fear meets frustration as Texans attempt to flee from Rita Washington Post Posted: Sept. 22, 2005 -snip- Houston's mayor acknowledged that the pre-hurricane evacuation preparations, which some Texas officials had been boasting about earlier this week, had gone awry, in part, because too many people attempted to flee the city at once. White said he had been imploring federal and state official since early Thursday to reverse traffic flow on the inbound lanes but that it had begun to occur only by mid-afternoon. "I would say there will be some learning experiences," he said. -snip- There...