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Coming ashore just west of Lake Charles as a Category 3 storm, Rita flooded southwest Louisiana destroying property south of I-10 from Texas to just west of Lafayette. Unlike Hurricane Audrey which hit the same area in 1957 and caused nearly 400 deaths, Rita was responsible for only seven direct deaths. Cameron Parish was most hard hit.  Responsible for over $10 billion in damages this one one of the costliest storms in history, but in the wake of Katrina, its effects were largely overshadowed.

By threatening New Orleans, "not so lovely" Rita extended the mandatory evacuation here by one week. Passing south of the city it drove storm surge up Barataria Bay and into the Harvey canal nearly creating a second flooding disaster for New Orleans in a month.

Rita is also responsible for the worst evacuation disaster in Texas history. As Rita crossed the Gulf it intensified to a Category 5 storm with maximum winds of 180 miles per hour. Galveston and Houston were within the predicted strike zones and Texas reacted. In advance of the storm epic traffic fleeing Houston ground to a halt. Motorists ran out of fuel and many frustrated drivers opted to turn back and face the storm at home rather than risking it on the road. A bus load of seniors on the way to Dallas caught fire burning 23 to death.

What remains amazing is that flood control efforts for New Orleans do not provide 100 year protection for a storm passing west of the city. The westbank portion of the city remains vulnerable. Rita drove this point home by nearly overtopping the Harvey canal flood protection from a distance of 300 miles. Harvey, Gretna and Algiers, all spared from flooding by Katrina, would have flooded. The BNOB flood control report recommended strategies which would provide inexpensive and effective protection and has been largely ignored.