Saturday, September 24 2005 14:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beaumont (Texas): Hurricane Rita's fiercest winds have crashed ashore, into the low-lying areas along the Texas-Louisiana border.

The US National Hurricane Centre says that the most powerful winds which surround the storm's calm centre made landfall around 0600 GMT (0100 local).

The cities of Sabine Pass in Texas and Cameron in Louisiana took the initial fury of the hurricane.

Winds carrying heavy rain were recorded at speeds of up to 120mph (193km/h) as the storm lashed the area.

Many of the towns are deserted after people fled as the hurricane approached.

Rita has weakened in intensity from its peak Category 5 status, when the massive storm had maximum sustained winds of 165 mph as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico. But forecasters and officials warned residents to take the storm seriously.

Power outages were reportedly widespread in the Texas and Louisiana regions subjected to Rita's wrath.

Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz, whose city is in the direct line of the projected path, said, "I'm afraid we're going to get it real bad."

Nearly everyone in the city of roughly 57,000 has evacuated. Ortiz said he is extremely concerned about Rita moving across Sabine Pass, pushing a large surge of water toward the city.

"If that's true, it will be under water," he said. "I hate to see what my city's getting right now."