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Weather experts expect Hurricane Rita to come ashore Saturday morning but they expressed concern that it might be slow moving storm, unlike Hurricane Katrina, and could dump much more rain. "It is a huge system," they said.
Late on Thursday night, they said the hurricane was packing sustained winds of up to 225 kms per hour but were still unsure about the exact location it would hit.
Nonetheless, Houston, Gavelstone tourist island and cities near the Gulf of Mexico resembled ghost towns with millions of people fleeing inland as Rita, moving at a howling speed of 225-kmph towards the coastline of Texas and Louisiana, changed course with a sharper than expected turn to the east.
The change in Rita's course, a weakened category 4 storm, could spare Houston and Gavelstone with a direct hit. However, cities and townships atleast 100 kms up the coast could be affected late on Friday or early Saturday, Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
Millions of people piled in vehicles to move further inland, turning over 150 km of highways into virtual parking lots, as cars took more than nine hours to traverse 30 km, a journey that earlier took less than an hour. The 640 km-wide storm, though weakened, could prove extremely dangerous to the numerous oil refineries in Texas.
Houston residents decided to leave in the face of warnings by officials, including Mayor Bill White, who invoked the memories of Katrina to make people rush to safer places. But they failed to make arrangements, with some admitting that they never expected so many people to hit the road.
Cars stalled and ran out of petrol in the blistering heat, further adding to the confusion, and authorities were making plans to rescue those who could be stalled when Rita hits. Acknowledging that the highway could be a deathtrap, White asked for military help in rushing scarce fuel to the stranded drivers.
President George W Bush was scheduled to visit Texas and Colorado later on Friday to have a first hand look at the preparations that are underway in the wake of Rita, the second major storm to hit the Gulf within a month after hurricane Katrina left over 1,000 people dead in Louisiana and Missisipi.
Meanwhile, the storm-ravaged New Orleans experienced first strong rains from Hurricane Rita on Thursday, leading to fears of more flooding. The city of 485,000 was devastated by floods after Hurricane Katrina passed over on August 29 and has not yet recovered.
"We anticipate that we could receive a storm surge of three to five feet. The Army Corps of Engineers has made some work to ensure that we can handle that type of storm surge with that current situation at our levees," Mayor Ray Nagin said.