Hurricane Rita
Updated: 2 November 2005
Profile
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Event dates |
20 – 26 September 2005 |
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Affected areas |
North Atlantic, US, Cuba, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee |
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Fatalities |
10 hurricane-related (some 100 casualties relating to accidents or health problems from evacuating 2.5 million residents in the coastal area) |
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Insured loss |
USD 10.0 bn |
Event description
While residents of New Orleans and other devastated cities and towns in Louisiana and Mississippi were still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the next major storm system was already gaining momentum in the North Atlantic (click to view track).
Satellite image of Hurricane Rita over the Gulf (c) NASA
Forming as a tropical depression south of the Bahamas, Hurricane Rita became the 17th named storm and the 9th hurricane of a very active storm season. Tracking a westerly path, it cut through the Florida Straits between the US and Cuba without making landfall. While still a Category 1 hurricane, Rita brought heavy rain and widespread flooding to Florida. Wind speeds reached 120 km/h (75 mph), resulting in uprooted trees and downed power lines.
Rita quickly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane, becoming the most intense hurricane on record in the Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds in excess of 270 km/h (168 mph). Making landfall on 24 September as a Category 3 hurricane just east of Sabine Pass, Texas, Rita began losing strength and veered slightly eastward of its expected path and skirted Houston.
The towns of Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Beaumont and Abbeville were among the most extensively damaged as the hurricane swept past with sustained wind speeds of 146 km/h (91 mph). The system caused further flooding as far as New Orleans.
Rita’s track took its strongest winds over the sparsely populated western Louisiana coast, resulting in relatively low insured losses for a storm of its intensity and size.
Insured loss
Rita is estimated to have caused insured claims in the range of USD 10 bn.
Hurricane Rita storm track
