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Rescuers search for holdouts in Rita's wake
« on: Sep 25th, 2005, 2:32pm » |
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Rescuers search for holdouts in Rita's wake
No storm deaths reported in Texas, Louisiana
Sunday, September 25, 2005; Posted: 2:59 p.m. EDT (18:59 GMT)
LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (CNN) -- Rescuers fanned out early Sunday in southwest Louisiana to search for trapped people who did not heed the mandatory evacuation orders issued ahead of Hurricane Rita.
Strong winds, rain and darkness hampered the search in Vermilion Parish on Saturday, and in some cases, the water was so rough that it capsized rescue boats.
Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen told CNN that no deaths had been reported so far in the state.
One person was killed in Belzoni, Mississippi, when a tornado spawned by the remnants of Rita ripped through two subdivisions, state emergency officials said.
In Lake Charles, Louisiana, the storm smashed buildings and filled the streets with water.
"The lake has risen higher than I've ever seen in my lifetime," said Mayor Randy Roach, who has lived in the town of 75,000 for all his life.
But, Roach said, "Everyone who wanted to got out."
Allen said that the Army Corps of Engineers was dropping sandbags to shore up New Orleans' levees.
Rita overtopped levees repaired by sandbags from Katrina's damage by about 2 feet, Allen said -- the day after the Army Corps of Engineers had pumped out as much of Katrina's water as they could with the city's fixed pumps.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry reported no deaths from his state -- except for the 24 evacuees who were killed when their bus caught fire on Friday and exploded.
"It appears the refining industry, the oil and gas industry, (suffered) a glancing blow at worse," Perry told CNN. "But the most important part -- this time, other than the tragedy of the bus, there's been no loss of life from the actual hurricane."
Perry went on a helicopter tour of damaged areas on Sunday.
He said preliminary estimates put the cost of Hurricane Rita in his state at more than $8 billion.
Returning home despite pleas
Residents who evacuated the Texas Gulf Coast were returning home on Sunday, even after authorities urged them to stay away.
Some traffic jams were reported on Interstates 10 and 45, which lead back into Houston, but there has not been a repeat of the gridlock that plagued people evacuating the Gulf Coast last week.
Perry defended the evacuation, despite the delays, and said there's always room for improvement.
"We did an extraordinary job of evacuating 2.5 million, 3 million people out of the way of a massive storm," he said.
As for the reverse exodus, Perry said that residents who are safe and with food should just simply "stay put. Don't come back into southeast Texas today."
In Houston -- where 350,000 power customers remained without electricity -- officials divided the city into quadrants and asked residents to return to each section one at a time, beginning with the northwest, but there is no penalty for ignoring that request.
Bush ponders military role
President Bush, who watched the initial storm operations from Northern Command headquarters in Colorado, was briefed early Sunday on the response at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
The president asked how many helicopter sorties were flown during Hurricane Katrina, and suggested that had Coast Guard and Army helicopter missions been better coordinated, the rescue effort would have been better coordinated.
The military officials briefing Bush advocated a national plan, and the president said he appreciated the information, which he would take back to Washington.
Bush also said that whether and when the Department of Defense would become the lead agency in a disaster response would be a "very important question for Congress to consider."
Downgraded storm
The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression overnight and its maximum sustained winds dropped to 20 mph. It was centered near Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In addition, the National Guard is shifting nearly 2,400 troops who were providing relief from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama and Mississippi to help with the response to Rita in western Louisiana and eastern Texas.
The remnants of the the storm swept to the northwest at 20 mph (32 kph) -- much faster than initially predicted. Forecasters thought that Rita could stall after coming ashore and douse Texas and Louisiana with heavy rains.
Rita's center slammed into the extreme southwest coast of Louisiana near Sabine Pass, Texas, with winds of 120 mph at 3:30 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Minor-to-significant damage and power outages were reported throughout the region.
Texas emergency operations director Jack Colley told his staff Sunday morning that about 1.1 million customers were without power in the state and that the Texas Air National Guard was coordinating the response.
Our basic goal, he said, is "really simple today -- food, water, ice and medical support to our communities."
Louisiana officials said Rita left 412,000 Louisiana customers without power, adding to the nearly 300,000 customers who still have no power after Katrina.
Other developments
David Paulison, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Saturday that storm damage "is not as severe as we expected." Paulison said mandatory evacuations ahead of the storm worked, and there are no reported deaths.
In Texas, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said people who were trapped in an apartment building near Beaumont were able to get out unharmed.
In Lumberton, Texas, police had to rescue a family trapped in their home. No injuries were reported.
In downtown Galveston, Texas, two historic residences and a commercial building were engulfed in flames. Winds of up to 70 mph fanned the flames and caused a blizzard of blowing embers as firefighters fought the blaze.
CNN's Rick Sanchez, Miles O'Brien, Randi Kaye and John King contributed to this report.
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