20 years ago, Hurricane Rita forced one of America’s largest evacuations in wake of Katrina

Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina, a new, stronger storm that is often overlooked in the annals of history caused unprecedented evacuations ahead of its landfall.

Twenty years ago this week, and just short of one month after Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of the Mississippi coast and put New Orleans under water for weeks, the unthinkable happened: An even stronger Category 5 hurricane threatened the Gulf States once again.

Overshadowed by Katrina in the annals of history, Hurricane Rita terrified residents across the Gulf Coast who were still in shock amid a historic hurricane season, and caused the evacuation of millions of people in Texas. Ultimately, the storm made landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border on Sept. 24, 2005, delivering the worst of the storm surge and extreme winds to the southwestern Louisiana coast.

Photo gallery: Hurricane Rita 20 years later

Rita was strongest in the Gulf, ranked #2 for all Atlantic hurricanes

At sea, Category 5 Hurricane Rita's maximum strength was a minimum pressure of 26.43 inches of mercury (895 mb), lower than Katrina's 26.64 inches of mercury (895 mb). Rita remained the strongest hurricane to be measured in the Gulf until Hurricane Milton tied Rita's pressure reading in 2024.

Rita's maximum sustained winds, at 180 mph, tied for the second-highest in the entire Atlantic basin, behind the 185-mph pressure measured with Gilbert in 1988 and the Labor Day Hurricane in 1935. A month later, Hurricane Wilma would beat Rita at 185 mph.

The storm caused one of the largest evacuations in US history

Determined not to repeat the catastrophe that affected New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the government evacuated 3.7 million people across the Texas coast from Corpus Christi to Beaumont, and inland, including the city of Houston. The evacuation overwhelmed highways, causing gridlock and traffic jams that extended as long as 100 miles. Some evacuees spent between 12 and 36 hours on the roads and 107 people died during the evacuation. An additional 13 people were killed by the storm's effects at the coast.

Like Katrina, Rita lost intensity to hit as a Category 3 storm

Fortunately, the monster storm in the Gulf lost wind intensity when it hit land as a Category 3 hurricane. Rita's storm surge and winds on the Louisiana coast were hard to measure precisely in Louisiana because many of the instruments had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Although initial estimates were that a 12- to 18-foot storm surge happened near landfall, the final National Hurricane Center report in 2006 showed a 15 foot increase in the level of the ocean at Cameron, Louisiana, with 12 feet on the coast south of New Iberia, 9 feet at Port Arthur, Texas, and 6-7 feet in the southeastern part of the state. Holly Beach, the beach closest to landfall, was destroyed.

That included Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, which was underwater one month earlier due to Hurricane Katrina. The levees outside the city, quickly repaired after Katrina, held, but were overtopped by the storm surge.

Officially, the highest wind gust measured during Rita was 108 mph (94 knots) at Cameron, Louisiana, though the data there is incomplete. Unofficially, a gust to 134 mph (116 knots) was reported at Grand Lake, 20 miles north of Cameron.

Hurricane Rita halted the nation's oil production

Rita's wrath was farther west than Katrina's in the Gulf, causing it to do heavier damage to the nation's energy infrastructure at sea. Rita destroyed 66 oil platforms and four drilling rigs. The entire Gulf's oil production, and 80 percent of natural gas production, was temporarily halted.

Before the damage from Rita could be fully repaired, an even stronger storm, Hurricane Wilma, threatened the United States once again a month later, making landfall in Florida.

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