A Sept. 26 map showing the path of Hurricane Rita contained incorrect times for the storm's center position after it hit land. It was near Port Arthur, Tex., at 5 a.m. Saturday and was about 100 miles inland by 11 a.m.
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Rita Spares Cities, Devastates Rural Areas
Ernest Westlund rescues his flagpole from floodwaters in front of his house in Choupique, in southwestern Louisiana.
(By Michel Ducille -- The Washington Post)
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Nearly a quarter of U.S. refining production, shuttered before Rita, remained closed Sunday. A refinery in Port Arthur and one in Beaumont were without power, and a second Port Arthur refinery was damaged and could remain out of service for two to four weeks. But companies were not predicting prolonged outages of facilities.
Major mobile phone companies said preliminary estimates suggested that damage from the storm had been far less than expected.
The optimistic assessments were little comfort to residents of the stricken shoreline. Ed Kane, sheriff of Hardin County, northwest of Beaumont, said even those who managed to stay will be told to leave. "Our county was closed off a half-hour ago, and those who are there are being urged to go," he said late Sunday.
Despite the orders to stay away, some people were attempting to return. Some were foiled by roadblocks; others by a lack of gasoline. Throughout the region, small groups of motorists gathered at stations, waiting for the pumps to resume providing gas.
Rosa Allen, 64, slept in her car Saturday night at a gasoline station a few miles out of Port Arthur, her home. She had fled before the storm to Shreveport, La., but found no shelter and no food there and turned around. She almost made it home before being stopped by the police and a gas gauge on empty.
"The police said they would have to arrest me if I stayed. I said I would welcome jail. At least they would give me a place to sleep, a toilet and some food," she said.
In Port Arthur, Jeff Savoy, 38, had scoffed at the storm on Saturday as he sat on his stoop, drinking beer, waiting for Rita. He was there again Sunday afternoon, looking decidedly more dejected. "I wish I would have left," he said. "We got through it. But this house was shaking. I didn't know whether we were coming or going."
Milbank reported from Washington. Staff writers Spencer S. Hsu, Ceci Connolly, Steve Hendrix, Arshad Mohammed and Justin Blum contributed to this report.
