WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Rita downgraded to Tropical Storm

Rita downgraded to Tropical Storm

As of 1 pm CDT, Rita was located between Shreveport and Lufkin Texas and was moving toward the north near 12 mph on a path that is expected to continue during the next 24 hours.

A tropical storm warning remains in effect from High Island, Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana and Rita is expected to produce torrential rains during the next few days.

Rita's maximum sustained winds have dropped to near 65 mph and that is expected to weaken during the next 24 hours.

NHC forecasters say Rita's slow movement is expected to generate very heavy rains over the next few days which may add to flood problems caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Rita made landfall at 3:30 a.m. Edt as a category 3 storm just east of Sabine pass causing fires and floods .

It has already dropped up to ten inches of rain in some places and has spun off several tornadoes.

More than 1 million customers are without power Saturday afternoon, though Houston and already New Orleans were largely spared.

Acting FEMA director David Paulison says the evacuations worked.

So far there are no reports of anyone being killed by Hurricane Rita.

Paulison also says damage from the storm is not as serious as officials had expected.

The Bush administration, eager to avoid repeating the much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, had several government agencies put relief supplies and rescue personnel throughout areas of Louisiana and Texas.

President Bush himself arrived in Texas Saturday to huddle with state officials on the damage Hurricane Rita left behind.

There was no immediate word on damage to the area's vast oil refinery industry, though rescuers and search teams in many areas had to wait for winds to subside before venturing out.

Bush is scheduled to stay overnight in San Antonio, a staging area for the hurricane response, so that he can survey the damage to the area.

About 3 million people had fled a 500-mile stretch of the Texas-Louisiana coast ahead of the storm, motivated in part by the devastating toll that Hurricane Katrina inflicted on New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast barely three weeks ago.

In New Orleans, rain drenched parts of the abandoned city early Saturday, straining the levee system already damaged by Katrina. But the forecast of up to three inches throughout the day was less than had been previously predicted.

"Overall, it looks like New Orleans has lucked out," national weather service meteorologist Phil Grigsby said.

However, Louisiana Governor, Kathleen Blanco, says she's "very concerned about what the storm surge is doing" along the coast, and the state of the weakened levees.

She's warning residents of Lake Charles who evacuated that city not to return yet. Saying trees are blocking streets, and water is rising.

Blanco says she's asked President Bush to help the state set up a team of officials trained in handling federal and private relief funding, to assist Louisiana residents who evacuated for both Katrina and Rita.

Posted 4:43pm by Kaela Harmon