Hurricane Rita Landfall

Friday, September 23, 2005

It is about 1 am and Hurricane Rita is very near hitting land. The focus of the storm is going to hit around the border of Louisiana and Texas. While the eye of the hurricane may not hit for a few more hours, Rita has already started to cause much havoc upon the coastal areas.

Hours before landfall, heavy winds of up to 70 mph have hindered the fire fighting ability and is causing much havoc with any attempts to control fire. At least one building has burnt down and it is unknown whether there were people inside the building before it was engulfed with flames. The heavy winds in downtown Galveston Texas also blew off the roof of a hotel. Galveston Texas was not the only place having trouble. New Orleans is still having trouble with flooding.

Several hours ago in New Orleans there was a breach in the levee system that keeps New Orleans dry. However as Hurricane Rita is nearing landfall, there was a breach in the levee and water started spilling into the city. It is apparent that the engineers could not fix the levee in time and that flooding is likely to occur in New Orleans again, and will be serious while Hurricane Rita makes landfall.