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(回答先: ハリケーン・リタが再びニューオリンズを襲撃する可能性が高まってきた! 市民に再び、避難命令！（ABC ニュース） 投稿者 Sun Shine 日時 2005 年 9 月 20 日 09:19:49)
Rita Category 5 中心気圧914 最大風速165mph
http://forecast.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/shadow/tracker/dynamic/200518N.html
以下、CNN（米）http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/21/rita/index.html より
Texans flee from Rita
Category 5 storm churning toward Gulf Coast
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Residents in southeast Texas and coastal Louisiana scurried to get out of the way of Hurricane Rita, a Category 5 hurricane expected to hit the Lone Star State this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center said at 4 p.m. that the storm has intensified and now packs maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (265 kph).
Around Houston, the fourth most populous city in the United States, interstates and highways are clogged with traffic as residents rush to leave.
Houston Mayor Bill White urged the residents in areas at risk for storm surge and those living in mobile homes to "begin making their evacuation plans."
White also asked residents to help move citizens who cannot evacuate themselves.
Rita's center was about 755 miles (1,215 kilometers) east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the storm was moving west at 13 mph (21 kph), according to the most recent full advisory from the hurricane center.
The warm Gulf waters were fueling the storm, which is about 300 miles wide.
About 50 miles from Houston, Galveston Island was under a state of emergency.
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered mandatory evacuations of nursing homes, assisted-living centers and similar facilities across Galveston County starting Wednesday morning.
One man who runs a retirement home near the beach told The Associated Press not everyone was leaving willingly.
"They either go with a family member or they go with us, but this building is not safe sitting on the seawall with a major hurricane coming," David Hastings, executive director of the Edgewater Retirement Community, told AP. "I have had several say, 'I don't want to go,' and I said, 'I'm sorry, you're going."'
More than 1,500 of Galveston's 60,000 residents have been bused out of the city, including special-need residents who were moved out first, Thomas said at a news briefing Wednesday.
Galveston, smashed in 1900 by the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, is in the center of the storm's projected path.
But the latest extended forecast from the National Hurricane Center predicted that Rita would likely make landfall Saturday most likely in Texas but anywhere from southwest Louisiana to northeast Mexico. (Watch Galveston residents prepare for Rita -- 1:22)
Officials at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Bay City, Texas, are preparing to shut the facility down before Rita arrives, a spokesman said.
The plant, which powers 1 million customers, is built on elevated ground 12 miles inland from the Texas coast to withstand storm surges from Category 5 hurricanes. In addition, the two reactor containment buildings are strong enough to withstand a Category 5 storm or a direct impact of a Boeing 767.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday urged residents living in coastal communities from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur to begin their evacuation plans.
"It is quite likely it will be a devastating storm," he said. "Now is the time to leave." (Watch Gov. Perry discuss Texas' preparations)
The director of Texas Office of Homeland Security said the state has planned for 250,000 to take refuge in shelters across the state but will be able to accommodate more than double that number. He said his office is prepared to handle possible inland flooding and tornadoes caused by Rita.
Evacuating a second storm
Texas welcomed thousands of evacuees after Hurricane Katrina hit, and many are now having to flee again.
Gwendolyn Garley and her family were taken to Galveston after being rescued from the roof of their home in New Orleans' 9th Ward. The family was planning to settle in Galveston permanently, she said.
"I feel lifeless, I'm just going through the motions," she told CNN. (Watch a two-time evacuee discuss her situation)
Later she said her cousin contacted her after seeing the interview and invited the family to join her in Atlanta, Georgia.
Authorities in Louisiana also worked to get thousands of residents moved from areas near the coast.
Evacuations were also ordered for Cameron Parish in western Louisiana near the Texas state line. Residents were ordered to leave by 7 p.m., according to the parish's Office of Emergency Preparedness.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Tuesday asked President Bush to declare a state of emergency ahead of the storm because an effective response to Hurricane Rita is "beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments."
Louisiana officials are looking for additional shelter space in case Rita heads there. As a result of Katrina, 13,000 people are housed in shelters south of Interstate 10, the area considered most vulnerable to hurricanes.
Two busloads of New Orleans residents fled the city from the downtown convention center Tuesday as Rita moved across the Gulf.
Some 500 buses were standing by to take people out, and contingency plans were being made to use commercial jetliners if necessary, said Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the federal point man for recovery efforts.
About 3,000 buses are also available to the state's parishes for evacuations, said Lt. Col. William J. Doran III of the state's Office of Emergency Preparedness. So far, none have been requested. (Full story)
The military also was redeploying troops and ships in the area -- including many that were helping with Hurricane Katrina recovery -- out of Rita's path and into position to respond quickly.
To avoid damage from the hurricane, the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the amphibious transport ship USS Shreveport will steam out of New Orleans Wednesday, according to officials at the U.S. Northern Command.
The ships will sail around Rita and follow the storm, to be in position for relief efforts after the storm makes landfall at which point the Defense Department has 500 people ready to be deployed.
Rita brushed South Florida and the Florida Keys on Tuesday, pounding the area with heavy rain and strong winds from its outer squall bands.
The storm caused storm-surge flooding in some areas and spawned at least two tornadoes, forecasters said.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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