Rita Readies For Weekend Date With Texas

Like a debutante primping for her big day, Hurricane Rita has shed some heft during the last few hours. According to the National Weather Service, Rita reached her peak during the last few hours and has since been downgraded to a Category IV hurricane. Her sister hurricane, Katrina, was also a IV when she devastated New Orleans and the eastern gulf coast. Rita is expected for an early Saturday breakfast, somewhere along the Texas coast between Houston and the Louisiana border.

Mindful of the devastation of Katrina, hundreds of thousands of gulf coast residents began inundating northernTexas cities, seeking refuge from the storm. With major conventions being held this weekend in both Dallas and Fort Worth, and many rooms already filled with guests that fled Katrina, almost all of the metroplex's 82,000 rooms are already filled. Many evacuees face either staying in public shelters or driving further north into Oklahoma for hotel rooms.