Damage reports are still coming in, but all in all, the feared disaster failed to materialize. Casualties have been low; damage is chiefly flooding from rain and some storm-surge flooding and wind damage along the coast, along with some scattered tornado touchdowns. The biggest problem wil be restoring power lines.
From the Beaumont Enterprise:
AFTERMATHAll in all - better than I would have dared hope. Now - to clean up, and back to figuring out what to do with New Orleans.
By: JACQUELINE LANE, The Enterprise 09/25/2005
It could take as long as a month before Southeast Texans who fled from Hurricane Rita and her 120 mph-plus winds can return to an area that was left Saturday without electricity and water in a tattered landscape of downed trees, power lines and building debris.
As of 9 p.m., there had been no reports of storm-related deaths in the area, but Rita's wrath on trees and buildings was another matter. Along with thousands of Entergy workers, 2,500 National Guard, 2,000 soldiers from 1St Cavalry in Fort Hood and troopers and firefighters from Fort Worth were expected to swarm the region and begin the cleanup process.
"There is a humongous undertaking to try to get our infrastructure rebuilt and to maintain law and order here," said Jeff McNeely, Beaumont Fire and Rescue district chief.
Rita came ashore northeast of Sabine Pass as a Category 3 hurricane at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, bringing with it heavy rains and high winds that battered Southwest Louisiana with even greater intensity than Southeast Texas.
Less than 24 hours after hitting land, Rita was a tropical depression that dropped flooding rains as it moved north of Shreveport, La.
But Rita will be known as much more than a rainmaker by Southeast Texas communities stretching from the coast all the way to the Piney Woods.
Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange, Vidor and towns well into the northern parts of East Texas all suffered severe damage, with few homes and businesses escaping unharmed.
Ford Park, where hundreds took refuge after Hurricane Katrina, will house the workers as well as residents who didn't leave for the storm, McNeely said. Other shelters, facilities or schools could be opened as well, officials said.
With local emergency crews given far more than they could handle, an army of outside resources was being called upon to assist in the aftermath.
Police, firefighters and other emergency crews combed the cities Saturday in search of those who needed assistance and to crack down on looting. Looting reports were numerous throughout the region.
Four Beaumont houses burned to the ground during the storm, and rescue crews were busy responding to calls from the sick, injured or simply just distressed from Rita's spectacular blast of rain-spraying fury, McNeely said.
Some people had become trapped in their homes after trees fell on them, and there were reports of gas line ruptures.
Gov. Rick Perry took a late afternoon aerial survey of the devastation Saturday. Despite the eye of the storm coming ashore at Sabine Pass, Perry called it a "glancing blow."
"My biggest concern right now is getting folks back with electricity, getting them power, getting back to the essentials of life," Perry said.
Perry described the devastation he saw from above, including roofs being torn off, churches with structural damage and trees over houses. Port Arthur had received a lot of flood water he said, particularly to older structures.
"But the fact of the matter is there is none of that just driven to the foundations type of devastation that we saw out of Mississippi," he said. "Thank God for that."
Many Southeast Texans, however, felt less than thankful.
While checking out hurricane damage in Bridge City on Saturday, Orange County sheriff Mike White took rapid-fire cell phone calls from evacuated friends who wanted to know if their homes were still standing.
To one caller he said, "stay in Marshall, Texas."
White said it could be two weeks before Orange County residents could return to their homes and a month to return power to everyone.
Vidor was as hard hit as any place in Orange County.
Across from the fire station, the First Pentecostal Church's white steeple lay in the parking lot. A little way down Main Street, the top half of the First United Methodist Church's stained glass window was missing. The Vidor Church of Christ, which faces Interstate 10, had half its roof torn off by Rita's fury.
In Mid County, gas stations, like Leslie's Chevron on Twin City Highway, the Texaco on Nederland Avenue and Exxon on Magnolia Avenue had awning collapses.
That type of damage to metal structures was a common site in Port Neches and Nederland. The end of Jake's Fireworks had collapsed, and two sides of the Central Church on the Rock were gone.
Also gone by Saturday afternoon were many clear paths north out of Beaumont, as the Piney Woods of East Texas lay splintered across roadways and roof tops. It was a clear reminder for Jasper and Newton County residents that hurricanes are more than a coastal concern.
Rita uprooted and snapped trees in both counties, blocking roads and making it difficult to fully determine the scope of the obviously severe damage.
Roudy Odom of Newton said clearing roads has been left largely to "rednecks with chainsaws" so far.
Amid the rubble, however, there were signs of hope.
When asked about the lucrative Southeast Texas oil industry, Perry said that during his 45-minute tour with Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, neither could see anything that would appear to be structurally impeding the industry from getting back to production relatively soon.
And despite the flooding, Port Arthur avoided the grave predictions of a 20-to-25 foot storm surge that could have swamped the town.
Donald Williams rode out the storm at his brother's home six blocks from the seawall on Port Arthur's West Side.
He said water had risen there, but the pumps have been turned on, and the water was receding.
"Ain't nothing damaged inside," Williams said.
But sometimes Rita's damage was more than superficial.
This hurricane had a way of cutting all of Southeast Texas to the heart.
Captain Dean Troup, a member of the Kountze volunteer fire department, just returned from a five-month tour as a paramedic in Iraq. As he drove around the storm ravaged city, he tried to call his 13-year-old daughter on his cell phone.
"I'm OK," Troup said to his daughter. "I made it. Kountze didn't."
Enterprise reporters Christine Rappleye, Beth Gallaspy, Pete Churton, Jamie Reed and Dee Dixon contributed to this report.
News and Blog Links:
Beaumont Enterprise
Houston Chronicle and their special weblog, Stormwatchers
Galveston Daily News
Wall Street Journal - Storm Tracker
Drudge Report
Weather Underground
Blogs of War - Hurricane Rita page
Lawrence Simon
Michelle Malkin
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