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 Tuesday, September 20, 2005 — Hurricane Rita is a Cat. 2 storm with winds at about 100 per hour and already passing the Southern Florida and the Keys with several inches of rain per hour. On its current track the storm is expected to reach the Gulf Coast of Texas by Saturday.
Dozens of Red Cross shelters are open or on standby in several areas, including Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, and Martin counties, housing the thousands urged to evacuate the Florida Keys yesterday. Rita is expected to pass directly over the Keys just around high tide Tuesday evening.
“Rita’s impact will extend far away from the eye of the storm,” said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during a press conference Tuesday. “If you’ve not left the Keys already, stay where you are. Lots of people left yesterday, and if you are still here, hunker down.”
At this point Rita’s final destination is unknown, but the path is heading for the Gulf Coast somewhere between Texas and New Orleans. As of Tuesday morning officials in Galveston, TX had already issued a voluntary evacuation order for city residents, and are urging people not to seek shelter in already crowded Houston and head further north.
Rita Alters Katrina Relief Operation
Because of Houston’s potential for flooding, shelter residents there are being evacuated once again to shelters in other parts of the country not threatened by storms. Residents from Houston area shelters were scheduled to take commercial flights to shelters in Arkansas and Tennessee starting Tuesday afternoon.
“Rita’s shelter operation could potentially be larger than what we dealt with for Katrina,” said Joe Becker, Senior Vice President of Preparedness and Response for the American Red Cross. “Any Texas coast evacuation would result in a massive shelter population. In addition there are no hotels available in the area, which compounds the problem.”
The goal is to have the transfer of Houston’s shelter residents completed by Tuesday night. As of Tuesday, there were still about 1,000 residents sheltering at the Reliant Center.
“Some are going to Red Cross shelters in other states, some people will be going to military bases,” Becker said. “We are working with every group we can, and we are trying to bring in new volunteers to help support this operation. It’s going to take thousands of Red Cross hers to handle the sheltering, and the response after the storm.”
Rita also thwarted plans of New Orleans officials who had already reopened the city Monday to residents who had not been able to return to the city since Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin invited residents to begin returning to the city in limited numbers this weekend, but concerns about the city’s ability to handle another hurricane forced him to rescind that invitation.
“If we get 9 inches of rain or better, there will probably 3 to 4 feet of water in the city,” said Nagin in a press conference Monday evening. “But the main concern is the storm surge. If we get a surge of just three feet, there is going to be significant water in the city.”
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of this disaster and thousands of other disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish).
Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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