The Track above is courtesy
of the University Of Wisconsin - Madison Cooperative Institute
for Meteorological Satellite Studies
Tropical depression eighteen formed just east of the
Turks late on September 17th. This depression became the
17th named storm of the 2005 Atlantic season on Sunday
September 18th in the Bahamas. Tropical Storm Rita became
the ninth hurricane in the Atlantic Basin during the morning
of September 20th. She intensified to a category
5 on Wednesday, September 21st. Her lowest pressure
measured by Hurricane Hunters was 897 mb or 26.49 inches.
This made her the 3rd most intense hurricane in terms
of pressure in the Atlantic Basin behind hurricane Gilbert
in 1988 and the Labor Day hurricane in 1935. Hurricane
Katrina only a month earlier had the distinction of being
the 3rd most intense hurricane in terms of pressure. Hurricane
Rita's top sustained winds were 175 mph. Thankfully, she
did weaken somewhat before making landfall early Saturday
morning (Sep 24th) near the Texas and Louisiana border
near Sabine Pass with sustained winds of 120 mph (category
3). Due to the strength and speed of Rita, Inland
Hurricane Warnings had to be issued as far north as the
East Texas Lakes Region as well as Inland Tropical Storm
Warnings for portions of east Texas and west central Louisiana.
Peak wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph occurred Saturday across
extreme southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas and the
western sections of northeast Texas and also across all
of northwest Louisiana and north central Louisiana as
Rita pushed northward. Peak wind gusts were much greater
closer to the remnant eyewall over deep east Texas with
estimated gusts near 85 mph in Center,
Texas, and also an unofficial wind gust of around
100 mph near Sam Rayburn Reservoir
in Lower East Texas. Click
here for a graphical map of the peak winds across the
region. The most widespread structural damage occurred
in Angelina and San Augustine counties, but widespread
tree and power line damage was also reported in Angelina,
Nacogdoches, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby counties
in Deep East Texas and in Sabine parish in west central
Louisiana. In Angelina county alone approximately 50 to
75 homes and businesses suffered mostly minor structural
damage from either high winds or fallen trees. The damage
from Rita was not as extensive across the rest of northeast
Texas and northern Louisiana, but still many trees and
power lines were down due to the strong winds. At the
height of the storm over 175,000
people had lost power in the NWS
Shreveport's forecast area, mainly across Deep East
Texas into northwest Louisiana. Two
fatalities occurred in Angelina county. A tree
fell on a person and the other fatality occurred when
a teenager was electrocuted when picking up a "hot"
power line.
Although Rita did not stall across east Texas, she still
put down copious amounts of rainfall. Two to five inches
of rain were common across the area, with 10.48 inches
recorded at Center, Texas. Click
here for an isohyetal rainfall map.
Shreveport recorded its 2nd
lowest pressure ever recorded as the center
of Rita moved through Shreveport around 6 pm Saturday
evening on September 24, 2005. The pressure recorded was
29.05 inches (983.7 mb) which was only .01 inch higher
than the lowest pressure on record of 29.04 inches back
on February 27, 1902.
Hurricane Rita making landfall early Saturday morning on September
24, 2005
(Flash 6 Player is required for viewing)
National Weather Service
Shreveport Weather Forecast Office
5655 Hollywood Avenue
Shreveport, LA 71109
Ph: 318.631.3669 (M-F 8am-4pm)
Web Master's Email: sr-shv.webmaster@noaa.gov
Page last modified: September
30, 2005