Commemorating the Anniversary of Hurricane Rita

It was just a month ago that residents of the Gulf Coast commemorated the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Often overlooked during this time period was the landfall of Hurricane Rita, a storm that came ashore less than a month after Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area. This is a good time to look back at Rita, a storm that is typically overshadowed by its historic predecessor.

Hurricane Rita Prompts Largest Evacuation in American History

Hurricane Rita is best known for triggering one of the most widespread evacuations for a natural disaster in American history. It was this week that Rita came ashore near the border of Louisiana and Texas. Gulf Coast residents were still reeling from the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Katrina when Rita came to life and threatened the region once again.

Rita made landfall on September 24, 2005, unleashing massive levels of storm surge and powerful winds to the southwestern corner of the Louisiana coastline.  Rita hit a maximum status of a Category 5 hurricane while swirling in the warm waters of the Gulf. Its minimum pressure of 26.43 inches of mercury was lower than Katrina's 26.24 inches. Rita held on to the title of the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf for 19 years until Hurricane Milton tied its pressure reading just last year.

Hurricane Rita topped out with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph. This reading tied it for second place across the Atlantic, just behind the 185 mph winds hit by Gilbert in 1988 and the infamous Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. It only took one month for Hurricane Wilma to top Rita with winds of 185 mph.

With the disaster of Hurricane Katrina fresh on the minds of local officials, the impending arrival of Rita prompted the largest evacuation in American history. Authorities were not ready to repeat the mistakes made when Katrina left thousands of people stranded in New Orleans without power and water for weeks.

The government evacuated approximately 3.7 million residents of the Texas coastline from Corpus Christi to Beaumont. The evacuation included much of the city of Houston. Not surprisingly, an evacuation of this scope quickly overwhelmed roadways and caused traffic jams that stretched for up to 100 miles in some places. Evacuees had to spend up to 36 hours on the road trying to find safer ground. The evacuation alone was blamed for 107 fatalities, far above the 13 deaths reported as a result of the storm's impacts.

While it was understandable that authorities rushed the evacuations after experiencing the devastation from Katrina, the Gulf Coast was spared this degree of impact from Rita. Like Katrina, Rita also lost intensity as it moved closer to shore. The storm eventually hit land as a Category 3 hurricane.

Looking Back at Rita's Numbers

It was difficult to quantify Rita's wind speeds and storm surge along the Louisiana coastline because many of these measuring instruments had been destroyed by Katrina's wrath. The final report out of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) confirmed that Rita whipped up a 15-foot storm surge at Cameron, Louisiana.

A storm surge of 12 feet was reported just south of the Louisiana community of New Iberia, while a 9-foot surge was clocked in Port Arthur, Texas. Holly Beach in Louisiana was completely destroyed when Rita came ashore.

Lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, was once again ripped apart after Rita churned through the region. The silver lining is that the levees outside of New Orleans held up to the wrath of Rita after being decimated by Katrina. Repairing these levees was a priority for local officials after Katrina impacted the Big Easy. This proved to be a wise decision as Rita hit less than a month later.

The highest wind gust officially confirmed from Rita was 108 mph, clocked in Cameron, Louisiana.  Unofficial gusts of greater speeds were reported elsewhere along the Gulf Coast.

One of Rita's most significant impacts came in the Gulf. The storm halted the oil production in the Gulf after destroying 66 oil platforms, along with four drilling rigs. All of the oil production and 80% of the natural gas production in the Gulf were halted as a result of Rita's power. This naturally drove up the price of gas across the country for a week.

The record-breaking hurricane season was not over yet. Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Florida just one month later.

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