Rita Anniversary

[LaBreeze]

Five years ago tonight Rita changed my entire life. We've come back as we always do. Glad that we're not going to experience any systems this year! Nice to have the front to protect us - where were you, "front" five years ago??? I just had to mention the anniversary in passing.

[Migle]

Rita is a storm that I think gets underestimated or overshadowed by Katrina. Rita caused alot of damage in SW Louisiana, but seems to be forgotten because of what happened in SE Louisiana. We haven't forgotten you guys though. How has that area came back?

[southerngale]

It's hard to believe that it's already been 5 years. Rita devastated us in SE TX and some people are still recovering today, from Rita and/or Ike.

Hurricane Rita pictures

Hard to look at some of those again... remember it all like it was yesterday.

[Macrocane]

Rita was such an amazing hurricane to track, a record breaking storm and a big monster that people will never forget. I can't believe that Rita didn't caused more deaths with all that destruction, I hope everyone recovers completely from her.

[southerngale]

Macrocane... Katrina had just hit a few weeks earlier and that was fresh on everyone's minds. We had a very high evacuation rate here in SE TX, so there were few left behind to die in the rubble. I assume the same is true for SW LA.

[Macrocane]

Yes fortunately Rita's evacuation was one of the largest of the US, wasn't it? I remmeber watching in the news that it was kind of chaotic but at the end as you said it saved thousands of lives.

[bvigal]

Pictures are just as chilling now as they were then.

[StormClouds63]

Rita is basically forgotten except for SW LA and SE TX ... because of Katrina and the short time between the two. Also, Houston and New Orleans were pretty much spared any significant damage.

Got down to 897 mb in the central GOM. Thankfully weakened to 937 mb. at landfall ... still a very destructive storm.

100+ degrees the days before the storm hit ... nearly as hot after the storm moved through. A miserable time w/no power and very, very hot.

[Wx_Warrior]

All I can say is WOW.

I don't think SETX was ready for what they were going to have to deal with. It had been so long before we had a storm and evacuations were nuts.

Just a week before, SETX evacuated for Gustav, but we never got a drop. Then a week later, SETX was told to evacuate again so some didn't take it very seriously.

I work in the media (newspaper), and came back 5 days later to work, and coming back, tears were streaming down my face.

It was brutal. I remember days before Rita, it was so hot, and at night, there was just an eery feeling in the air.

I think SETX (officials and residents) learned from Rita and was much better with responses for Ike.

[southerngale]

All I can say is WOW.

I don't think SETX was ready for what they were going to have to deal with. It had been so long before we had a storm and evacuations were nuts.

Just a week before, SETX evacuated for Gustav, but we never got a drop. Then a week later, SETX was told to evacuate again so some didn't take it very seriously.

I work in the media (newspaper), and came back 5 days later to work, and coming back, tears were streaming down my face.

It was brutal. I remember days before Rita, it was so hot, and at night, there was just an eery feeling in the air.

I think SETX (officials and residents) learned from Rita and was much better with responses for Ike.

The part I bolded.... you're getting Ike in 2008 confused with Rita. Too many freaking hurricanes lately, huh?

[Wx_Warrior]

YIKES!!!

My bad....yes...way too many!

[Tireman4]

Oh the evacuations in Houston. The horrible horrible way they handled everything. It did help us to learn how to evacuate during Ike.

[StormClouds63]

YIKES!!!

My bad....yes...way too many!

You guys got both the wind damage and incredible storm surge w/Ike.

Over in Calcasieu and Cameron, the surge from Ike was even higher in several spots than Rita. However, our structural damage in LC was much higher in Rita, just as I'm sure in SE TX structural damage was higher in Ike (than Rita).

Either way, Rita won't be forgotten in these parts. Nationwide, it's just a footnote in hurricane history. Although, that 897 mb in the central Gulf has to be a near-record low.

You're right about the night before Rita. The Thursday night before Rita, there was complete silence outdoors. No crickets, birds ... not a sound. Completely still, and oppressively hot and humid. It's like the wildlife knew something was coming.

[southerngale]

I actually think structural damage was worse in Rita here, overall. They were both horrible, though, with some similarities and some differences.

[Ptarmigan]

Rita was such a close call for Houston. Had it hit Houston, it would of been bad.

[setxsunshine]

My family evacuated to my mom's near Ft. Worth with my mother-in-law & niece. A 5 hr drive turned in to 15 hrs. The evacuation was an event in itself. I live in Hardin Co. and to my knowledge that was the first time we had a mandatory evacuation. The first shelters are set up in Lufkin (I think). We had been sitting in stopped traffic in Lufkin for a while when the local radio station announced that Lufkin & surrounding areas were also being evacuated. Talk about crazy.

My father-in-law, brother & sister-in-law stayed in my in-laws house. They had windows boarded and said it was the weirdest thing hearing loud 'thumps' all around all night. Trees were falling everywhere. Our properities are next to each other and together we had 25-30 trees down. Some of the land had been woods that we cleared for our homes so there are (or were) still lots of trees on the land. I sure miss the tree that kept the sun from coming in my kitchen window in the late afternoon and evenings.
They said it looked like a war zone. I have pictures but by the time I got home a lot of it had been cleaned. My husband & son came home on Tuesday after Rita to help with cleanup. The rest of us stayed at my mom's until we had electricity again (father-in-law didn't want mother-in-law here without electricity because of the heat). We were gone about 10 days.

I've lived here over 40 yrs and had never seen anything like it. Neither had my in-laws who are in there 70's. Then 3 years later, Ike, which we all stayed for. We had about 10 trees down in Ike, two of which came a few feet from hitting our house. I hope we never have to go through another hurricane.