Rita is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday anywhere between Corpus Christi, Tex., and Galveston, Tex., the scene of the country's worst hurricane disaster in 1900, when at least 8,000 people died.
"Homes and business can be rebuilt," said Texas Gov. Perry. "Lives cannot. If you're on the coast between Beaumont and Corpus Christi, now's the time to leave." Beaumont is close to the border with Louisiana in the east of the state and Corpus Christi is north of the Mexican border to the southwest.
The National Hurricane Center said Rita was moving west at about 13 mph and that its westward motion was expected to continue for the next 24 hours. Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 70 miles from the eye of the storm, the Hurricane Center said. Meteorologists said the hurricane had developed both a significant eye and eyewall.
At 5 p.m. EDT, the eye of the hurricane was about 600 miles east-southeast of Galveston.
Houston Mayor Bill White called Wednesday for a voluntary evacuation of low-lying, flood-prone parts of the greater Houston area as well as of people living in mobile homes. He said the evacuation order would become mandatory by 6 a.m. Thursday. Houston is just miles from the mouth of Galveston Bay, and if Rita makes landfall where expected, there could be significant flooding inland when the anticipated storm surge rushes through Galveston Bay and along the Houston Ship Channel, officials warned.
Speaking at a news conference, White asked Houston area schools to close Thursday and Friday and area employers to allow all but essential employees to stay home both days.
"Hurricane Rita on its present course poses a risk to Houston and the whole Houston region," White told reporters.
White said there would not be enough government vehicles available to transport everyone who needs evacuating. He asked citizens to lend a hand to those who need help evacuating. The evacuation order could mean that as many as 1 million people may attempt to leave the area.
Crude oil prices surged more than $1 a barrel on concerns that Rita could smash into key oil facilities in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Texas is the heart of U.S. oil production and accounts for 25 percent of the nation's total oil output.
Perry activated 5,000 members of the Texas National Guard. Military leaders prepared to rush the USS Iwo Jima, which has served as a floating command post in New Orleans, and several other naval vessels out to sea to better ride out the storm. Emergency workers began plans to open shelters in central Texas.
The scramble to prepare for Rita's next landfall swung into motion even before the storm toppled trees and electrical lines with 90-mph gusts in Key West. But there were no reports of injuries, only isolated flooding. The damage was far less than feared from a storm so fearsome that nearly half of Key West's residents evacuated -- far more than the usual 25 percent on an island famous for its nonchalance in the face of hurricane threats.
"We are very fortunate," Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley said.
Rita Churns Toward Texas