OxfordPress.com

Rita bearing in on Texas

HOUSTON — LanoraChambers initially figured she could hunker down and ride out Hurricane Rita at her daughter's Clear Lake home, just like she's done time and time again.

That was before a neighbor related a scary bit of history: In 1915, two killer hurricanes struck Louisiana and Galveston, within weeks of each other.

"History repeats itself, you know, and this is it," the 79-year-old Galveston native said. "This will be a killer, just like Katrina. We're all getting the hell out."

By late Wednesday afternoon, Chambers, her daughter, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic — along with perhaps as many as 1.3 million others urged to leave ahead of one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes in history.

As Category 5 Hurricane Rita rapidly closed the remaining few hundred miles to the Texas coast, Gov. Rick Perry urged residents of coastal communities from Beaumont to Corpus Christi to evacuate as quickly as possible.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for all of Texas, authorizing federal agencies to coordinate disaster relief efforts immediately. Bush, also declared a state of emergency for Louisiana, which could get downpours from Rita's outer rain bands.

In Houston late Wednesday, officials broadened the voluntary evacuation zones to include areas as far north as Montgomery County — north of Houston. They also were reported to be considering expanding the mandatory evacuation areas, as well, pending new storm updates due out this morning.

Shoppers pushed and shoved each other at a supermarket near the Astrodome to grab bottled water and the few remaining loaves of bread. Canned good, snack and beer shelves had been mostly stripped bare.

In Austin, residents also stocked up on canned foods and bottled water, although federal meteorologists said they have much less to worry about.

The metro area, which is forecast to be on the "drier" left side as Rita speeds north through eastern Central Texas, wasn't expected to see anything worse than a typical thunderstorm — with 3 to 4 inches of rain and winds up to 60 mph — on Saturday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Brundrett.

"Some of the weaker trees will be uprooted," said Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose. "Some trees will fall on power lines. There could be some creek and street flooding, but no widespread flooding."

Forecasters predicted Rita would come ashore in eastern Matagorda Bay, south of Bay City, as a downgraded but at least Category 3 hurricane a few hours before dawn Saturday. Although it was packing winds of 165 mph Wednesday, it was traversing the warmest waters in the Gulf, while the waters closer to the Texas coast are much cooler. Hurricanes draw their power from warm water.

Flooding rains from Rita's outer bands could begin in the storm's path on the Texas coast as soon as noon Friday. The most damaging winds, flooding rain and tornadoes are expected on Rita's east side, which includes the Galveston and Houston areas.

Rita was expected to be a minimal hurricane by the time it passes east of Austin on late morning Saturday, and a tropical storm when it passes east of Temple and Killeen heading north. But Brundrett said counties in Rita's path further south and southeast, including Wharton, Lavaca, Colorado and eastern Fayette, could expect considerable damage from winds up to 100 mph, and rainfall up to 8 inches.

Bush's declaration directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to mobilize equipment and supplies — work that began Wednesday when the first of more than 100 truckloads of supplies began arriving at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Larry Hereth will oversee federal preparations for Hurricane Rita from Austin, where FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security have set up a temporary field office.

Meanwhile, in Houston, every northbound freeway lane in the area was slowed to a crawl, packed with cars loaded with people, clothing, pets and furniture, and trucks loaded with boats and livestock, even portable buildings. Ambulances evacuating patients from area hospitals raced northward on the highway shoulders, as did a continuing string of school buses and chartered coaches loaded with nursing home patients and other evacuees.

"I started out at noon, and I've made it just about 40 miles so far — but I'm not stopping 'til I'm in Oklahoma," Merrell Craddick, of Dickinson, yelled from his brim-full SUV in stalled traffic on Interstate 45 in Houston.

"That was the closest hotel room we could find."

Bruce Mills, director of Austin's Public Safety Emergency Management Department, said the city is preparing to take in as many as 40,000 evacuees. On Wednesday, highway signs began directing evacuees to the Delco Center in Northeast Austin, which can house 350 people. When that center is full, city officials will direct evacuees to makeshift shelters at schools in Austin, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop counties.

State workers taped over the word "Katrina" on the blue "Katrina evacuees here" signs at the Delco Center. American Red Cross volunteer Marty McKellipssaid the center can hold up to 250 people.

Austin Energy, meanwhile, plans to have 35 crews ready to repair power outages, and roughly the same number of tree-trimming crews on call, spokesman Ed Clark said. High winds could knock out any of the city's 300 main circuits, which service about 2,500 customers apiece.

"We'll be watching as the storm approaches. If we see a service area is about to be hit by high winds, we will literally have crews loaded and sitting in trucks, ready to go," Clark said.

After the storm passes, Austin Energy will have 80 customer-service representatives taking calls at 322-9100 about power outages and tree damage.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport does not plan to shut down, spokeswoman Leslie Schneiweiss said, but airlines might cancel or delay flights.

Toll-free phone numbers are on the airport's Web site, www.abia.org under "airlines and flights."

From Houston south, people were busy boarding up windows on stores and homes. Plywood, batteries and flashlights were reported in short supply. Utility officials said power may not be restored for up to two weeks.

"Need $$ to escape," read the sign of one street corner beggar in Houston's tony Galleria, one of several people seen waving similar, timely messages.

At Hobby Airport in South Houston, long lines snaked from the security checkpoints and boarding gates.

"We're flying to Kansas City. Anywhere but here," said Keesha Taylor, a New Orleans resident who was evacuated to Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A mandatory evacuation order in effect Wednesday in Galveston and adjoining low-lying communities along the coast was to be extended by 6 a.m. today to include cities such as Kemah and Texas City, just to the north. By noon today, areas stretching from the Houston Ship Channel west to Brazoria County are to be cleared.

Even on Interstate 10 west of Houston, traffic was slowed to a crawl Wednesday. Ambulances, including one from Copperas Cove and another from New Braunfels, used the median to transport patients north, their sirens wailing.

The Texas Department of Transportation closed ramps in Houston to speed northbound traffic. It dedicated three northbound lanes, including the shoulder, on Interstate 37 from Corpus Christi to San Antonio, and might add a fourth northbound lane later if necessary.

The department suspended ferry service between Galveston and Bolivar Island at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Spokesman Mike Cox said the agency had deployed 78 Transportation Department employees to various places to help and had about 40 pieces of heavy equipment and other vehicles ready to respond.

The Port of Houston Authority, which operates about 15 percent to 20 percent of the terminals on the Houston Ship Channel, intended to close Wednesday night and not resume business until at least Monday. Tom Kornegay, director of the port, said "All the ships are leaving because they know they are much safer to be at sea where they can run from the storm."

Students faculty and staff at universities near the Texas Gulf Coast, including many who had relocated there from universities in New Orleans, were making preparations for Hurricane Rita on Wednesday, and in several cases were preparing to evacuate.

Shelters being set up in Lufkin, College Station, San Antonio and Huntsville, as well as Austin, were prepared to accommodate 250,000 people, and could take as many as 500,000 if necessary, said Steve McCraw, Texas director of homeland security. Other cities, such as El Paso and Lubbock, will provide shelters if needed.

UT-Austin officials plan to decide Friday whether they will lock the buildings and cancel all campus activities Saturday, in an effort to keep people away from the damage large trees might cause in high winds.

By Wednesday evening, officials in Surfside and several other coastal towns reported their evacuations were mostly complete. But in nearby Galveston, which was nearly obliterated by a killer hurricane 105 years ago this month and hammered 15 years later by another huge storm, somber city officials worried whether they had enough buses to get all 60,000 residents out by the deadline.

They also offered a grim outlook about the coming days. At least 90 mph winds, more than 10 inches of rain, 30-foot waves that will top the seawall — an unprecedented and historic storm, they called it.

Sometime today, they might move Galveston's government into a water-tight concrete bunker built on the foundation of a World War II coastal defense battery beneath the San Luis Hotel.

"It will destroy a big part of the island," said Mayor Lyda Thomas. "I wish I could tell you it weren't so."

Mike Ward and Dick Stanley write for the Austin American-Statesman.