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On This Day in 2005: Hurricane Rita Made Landfall Near the TX/LA Border
September 22, 2021 at 04:18 PM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Alyssa Robinette
On this day sixteen years ago, Hurricane Rita made landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border. It was historic for not just the damage it caused in an area already recovering from Hurricane Katrina just a month earlier, but also for becoming the strongest tropical cyclone to occur in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Rita first formed from a tropical disturbance that moved off the west coast of Africa on September 7, 2005. As it moved westward across the Atlantic, it was not showing any major signs of strengthening. It wasn’t until September 15th that there was increase in convection and decrease in winds that allowed for some organization. By September 17th, it has strengthened enough to be classified as a tropical depression when it was about 80 miles east of Grand Turk Island near the Bahamas.
As the storm drifted closer to the Gulf of Mexico, conditions for tropical development only improved and Rita was intensified to a tropical storm midday September 18th. It remained a tropical storm as it tracked over the Bahamas on September 19th and then was able to intensify to a Category 1 hurricane on September 20th upon entering the Florida Straits.
Warm sea surface temperatures and favorable wind speeds allowed for rapid intensification as Rita slid farther west, with it becoming a Category 2 hurricane about 6 hours after obtaining Category 1 hurricane classification. Further strengthening occurred when it reached Major Category 3 hurricane status early on September 21st. This intensification occurred when Rita was moving north of Cuba and just entering the Gulf of Mexico, so further organization was likely.
Within 12 hours after becoming a Category 3 hurricane, Rita intensified to a Category 5 storm and reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph. At this point, the center of the storm was located around 310 miles south of the Mississippi River Delta. Rita maintained Category 5 hurricane intensity for 18 hours, before weakening slightly to a Category 4 hurricane on September 22nd.
The storm encountered stronger winds and slightly cooler waters on September 23rd as it began to make more of a northwest turn towards the Louisiana/Texas border. This allowed it to weaken to a Category 3 hurricane right before it made landfall very late on September 23rd. While it had weakened, it was still a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.
Rita weakened rapidly as it moved farther inland almost parallel to the state border between Louisiana and Texas on September 24th, being downgraded to tropical storm intensity nearly 12 hours after landfall. It was then classified as a tropical depression over Arkansas early on September 25th. It was then swept away by a cold as a remnant low pressure on September 26th.
In some ways, the effects of Rita were not as severe as anticipated. The track was further east, which helped prevent significant storm surge in Galveston and Houston.
Unfortunately, southwestern Louisiana still experienced a storm surge up to 18 feet, causing extensive to catastrophic damage to coastal parishes. Parts of New Orleans, which was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina that occurred a month prior, was once again flooded by Hurricane Rita as the levees that were attempted to be repaired were breached again. Across southeast Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish, storm surge reached 7 feet, which caused nearly every levee to fail and left with around 10,000 homes flooded. Hundreds of people were reported to be rescued from rooftops.
There were also severe impacts due to wind across southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. Most places along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas saw rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches. However, there were rainfall amounts of 10 to 12 inches across Mississippi, Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Total damage is estimated at approximately $18.5 billion. The reported death toll was 120, but only seven of them were directly related to Hurricane Rita. During the storm, nearly two million people lost electricity.
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was record-breaking in many ways, including having three of the top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded (Wilma, Rita and Katrina). Hurricane Rita leaves a lasting reputation as the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico in terms of lowers pressure. It is also the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, behind Wilma in 2005, Gilbert in 1988 and “Labor Day” in 1935. Resulting from heavy destruction on the Gulf Coast, the name “Rita” was retired in the spring of 2006 and was replaced by Rina for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season’s list.
Source: NWS, NOAA, Wikipedia
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Image Credit: Gulf of Mexico (Sept. 22, 2005) – GOES-12 Satellite infrared image provided by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, Calif., showing the status of Hurricane Rita at 3:30 am EST. (US Navy via Wikimedia Commons)
Hurricane Rita first formed from a tropical disturbance that moved off the west coast of Africa on September 7, 2005. As it moved westward across the Atlantic, it was not showing any major signs of strengthening. It wasn’t until September 15th that there was increase in convection and decrease in winds that allowed for some organization. By September 17th, it has strengthened enough to be classified as a tropical depression when it was about 80 miles east of Grand Turk Island near the Bahamas.
As the storm drifted closer to the Gulf of Mexico, conditions for tropical development only improved and Rita was intensified to a tropical storm midday September 18th. It remained a tropical storm as it tracked over the Bahamas on September 19th and then was able to intensify to a Category 1 hurricane on September 20th upon entering the Florida Straits.
Warm sea surface temperatures and favorable wind speeds allowed for rapid intensification as Rita slid farther west, with it becoming a Category 2 hurricane about 6 hours after obtaining Category 1 hurricane classification. Further strengthening occurred when it reached Major Category 3 hurricane status early on September 21st. This intensification occurred when Rita was moving north of Cuba and just entering the Gulf of Mexico, so further organization was likely.
Within 12 hours after becoming a Category 3 hurricane, Rita intensified to a Category 5 storm and reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph. At this point, the center of the storm was located around 310 miles south of the Mississippi River Delta. Rita maintained Category 5 hurricane intensity for 18 hours, before weakening slightly to a Category 4 hurricane on September 22nd.
The storm encountered stronger winds and slightly cooler waters on September 23rd as it began to make more of a northwest turn towards the Louisiana/Texas border. This allowed it to weaken to a Category 3 hurricane right before it made landfall very late on September 23rd. While it had weakened, it was still a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.
Rita weakened rapidly as it moved farther inland almost parallel to the state border between Louisiana and Texas on September 24th, being downgraded to tropical storm intensity nearly 12 hours after landfall. It was then classified as a tropical depression over Arkansas early on September 25th. It was then swept away by a cold as a remnant low pressure on September 26th.
In some ways, the effects of Rita were not as severe as anticipated. The track was further east, which helped prevent significant storm surge in Galveston and Houston.
Unfortunately, southwestern Louisiana still experienced a storm surge up to 18 feet, causing extensive to catastrophic damage to coastal parishes. Parts of New Orleans, which was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina that occurred a month prior, was once again flooded by Hurricane Rita as the levees that were attempted to be repaired were breached again. Across southeast Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish, storm surge reached 7 feet, which caused nearly every levee to fail and left with around 10,000 homes flooded. Hundreds of people were reported to be rescued from rooftops.
There were also severe impacts due to wind across southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. Most places along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas saw rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches. However, there were rainfall amounts of 10 to 12 inches across Mississippi, Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Total damage is estimated at approximately $18.5 billion. The reported death toll was 120, but only seven of them were directly related to Hurricane Rita. During the storm, nearly two million people lost electricity.
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was record-breaking in many ways, including having three of the top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded (Wilma, Rita and Katrina). Hurricane Rita leaves a lasting reputation as the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico in terms of lowers pressure. It is also the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, behind Wilma in 2005, Gilbert in 1988 and “Labor Day” in 1935. Resulting from heavy destruction on the Gulf Coast, the name “Rita” was retired in the spring of 2006 and was replaced by Rina for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season’s list.
Source: NWS, NOAA, Wikipedia
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Image Credit: Gulf of Mexico (Sept. 22, 2005) – GOES-12 Satellite infrared image provided by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, Calif., showing the status of Hurricane Rita at 3:30 am EST. (US Navy via Wikimedia Commons)