Saturday, September 24 2005 15:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Houston: Threatening to flood the low-lying coastal zones along the Texas-Louisiana border, Hurricane Rita is expected to come ashore later today (Sept 24, 2005) as torrential rains pummelled the United States (US) oil-refining hub.

The outer eyewall, the ring of high velocity winds surrounding the eye of the Hurricane, is expected to make landfall near Port Arthur at around four a.m. local time (1330 IST) with stinging rainfall lashing the coastal belt of Texas, Sabine Pass and Louisiana, the National Hurricane Centre said.

Earlier, the NHC had placed the eye of the storm, now weakened to Category three, 40 miles southeast of Sabine Pass, along the state line between Texas and Louisiana.

It had already showed its affect even before its arrival by steaming towards refinery towns along the Texas-Louisiana coast with 120 mph winds yesterday (Sept 23, 2005).

Levee breaks caused new flooding in New Orleans, and as many as 24 people were killed when a bus carrying nursing-home evacuees caught fire in a traffic jam.

Millions of people have hit the road to move to safety, causing a bumper-to-bumper traffic for over a hundred miles.

After raging as a Category 5, 282-kmph monster earlier in the week, it weakened into a category three storm, albeit still remaining highly dangerous, according to NHC.

The course of the Hurricane could spare Houston and Galveston but slam the oil refining towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, with a 20-foot storm surge, forecasters said.

Tropical storm force winds began whipping through Galveston in the last few hours, along with light rain. A dawn-to-dusk curfew has been clamped on the city as a precautionary measure.

Rita's landfall near Port Arthur is fortuitous for the five million-plus residents of Houston for several reasons as Hurricane force winds are unlikely in most parts of the city limits. It will indeed have its effect, trees will fall over and power outage will be there.

As Rita moves inland, the storm's wind will eventually blow from the northwest to southeast, forecasters said, adding, this airflow will expedite the flow of rainfall runoff into Houston's bayous and the Gulf.

At the Harris county's emergency centre, the focus of the last two days has been avoiding a New Orleans-style disaster.

Those who could not make out of the town due to chaotic traffic on the roads, had just one choice yesterday, hunker down at home.

Most shelters in the area were already filled to the brim. Officials in Houston would not announce to the public the location of those that had space, instead leaving it to emergency workers to decide who should be taken there.

"Now is not the time to begin evacuating. People should prepare to shelter in place," Houston Mayor Bill White said at a press conference. "We are not encouraging the general public to go on the streets looking for a shelter."

Some one million people have already left the area around Houston ahead of powerful Hurricane, including about 15,000 who were helped out by authorities.