Texans Evacuate Coastal Areas as Hurricane Rita Nears (text)

Drawing upon the harsh lessons of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of thousands of Texans -- many from Houston -- continued to evacuate the southeast corner of the state Thursday as Hurricane Rita spun toward the Gulf Coast. Though at one point a Category 5 storm -- the strongest type of hurricane -- forecasters said the storm had dropped to a Category 4 by early afternoon and could weaken further by the time it reaches land late Friday or early Saturday.

Citation Information:

"Texans Evacuate Coastal Areas as Hurricane Rita Nears (text)." Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, Object #1968 (March 07 2006, 2:00 pm)<http://www.hurricanearchive.org/object/1968>