Usually only the most devastating or deadly hurricanes are burned into the memory of most, including those not affected by them. That can leave a lot of stronger hurricanes largely forgotten by many.
On Sept. 24, 2005, 20 years ago this morning, Hurricane Rita made landfall near the Louisiana-Texas border as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.
Sobering Stats
After it formed north of Hispaniola one week earlier, Rita rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane in the central Gulf.
Weather in your inbox
At its strongest, Rita’s lowest central pressure — 895 millibars — was lower than all but two other Atlantic Basin hurricanes on record, Gilbert in 1988 (888 millibars) and the “Labor Day” 1935 hurricane (892 millibars). In 2024, Milton would tie Rita’s lowest pressure.
It inflicted $29.4 billion damage in the U.S., a top 20 costliest hurricane, all time, according to NOAA.
Its up to 15-foot storm surge wiped out parts of southwest Louisiana, including the towns of Cameron, Creole, Grand Cheniere and Holly Beach.
If that wasn’t enough, Rita spawned 97 tornadoes in the U.S., fourth most for any tropical cyclone to affect the mainland U.S.
In this satellite image from NOAA, Hurricane Rita is shown in the Gulf of Mexico heading towards the Texas coast Sept. 23, 2005.
(NOAA/Getty Images)
Why Forgotten?
Despite all that, Rita may have been one of the most forgotten hurricanes in recent history. A search for “Hurricane Rita forgotten” online will turn up many stories written about this storm.
How was this intense, destructive hurricane so overshadowed?
It followed Katrina: Spinning up less than one month after Katrina ravaged Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana, national attention was still focused on how a 21st century U.S. hurricane, given today’s forecast technology, could claim more than 1,000 lives.
Additional storm surge flooding during Rita in southeastern Louisiana prolonged the Katrina recovery. It took until early October before all flood water was finally removed from New Orleans.
Houses are seen in the flooded Lower Ninth Ward Sept. 24, 2005 in New Orleans, La.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It missed Houston: As Rita reached its peak intensity, America’s fourth-largest city, Houston, was directly in the path, triggering a mass evacuation.
Rita’s center, however, made a subtle northward bend and instead made landfall near the Sabine River – the border between the Texas and Louisiana coasts – sparing Houston.
Nevertheless, according to a report from the Texas House of Representatives, an estimated 3.7 million residents evacuated from Corpus Christi to Beaumont in perhaps the largest evacuation in U.S. history at the time.
The ensuing gridlock left motorists stranded without gas, adequate food or restrooms, all during a triple-digit heat wave. The Texas House report cited up to 118 people might have died in the evacuation itself; Many may have evacuated unnecessarily.
Vehicles jam the northbound lanes, right, of I-45 as the southbound lanes, left, are empty in Houston, Texas, Sept. 22, 2005, as people from south Texas evacuate in advance of Hurricane Rita.
(Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)
Low “direct” death toll: Not counting the deaths during the evacuation noted above, only seven deaths were directly related to Hurricane Rita’s flooding, winds or tornadoes.
For parts of southwestern Louisiana, Rita was every bit as bad as Katrina was for Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana.
In addition to the up to 15 feet of surge inundation along the immediate Louisiana coast, surge flooding extended as far north as Interstate 10 about 25 miles inland, swamping Lake Charles, Louisiana, in up to 6 feet of water.
An 8- to 12-foot storm surge was estimated in parts of Vermillion, Iberia and St. Mary parishes, while a 3- to 5-foot surge inundated Port Arthur, Texas.
President George W. Bush flies over what was once a beach community in Cameron, La., on Sept. 27, 2005 during an aerial tour of the Louisiana and Texas areas affected by Hurricane Rita.
(Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Wilma followed: Exactly one month later, Hurricane Wilma clobbered South Florida, including the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, inflicting an estimated $30 billion in damage.
What’s more, Wilma set a new Atlantic Basin pressure record – 882 millibars – while still in the western Caribbean Sea, 13 millibars lower than Rita’s peak strength.
Rita was so destructive that its name was retired from future use after the historic 2005 hurricane season, along with Katrina, Wilma, Dennis and Stan.
(MORE: Retired Atlantic Hurricane Names)
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
