On September 17th, forecasters began tracking a tropical disturbance near the Turks and Caicos Islands, which would become Tropical Storm Rita later that day. The system approached hurricane status while moving through the central Bahamas the following day.

The warm waters of the Florida Straits helped to rapidly intensify Rita on September 20th, reaching category 2 status while passing about 50 miles south of Key West. Once again, the Keys suffered a major blow with flooding, high winds, damage, downed trees, and storm surge.

Within a 24-hour window, Hurricane Rita went from a category two to five over the southeast Gulf of Mexico. Top winds reached 165 MPH on September 21st.

Early on the following day, Rita rivals Katrina with winds reaching 175 MPH, about 570 miles east-southeast of Galveston, Texas. Central pressure fell to 897 mb, the third lowest recorded in the Atlantic Basin.

Though several hundred miles offshore, storm surge flooding began to impact New Orleans due to the tremendous wave action on the waters of the Gulf.

Having just been through Hurricane Katrina a month prior, residents along the Gulf Coast didn't hesitate to flee. Gridlock hit major cities such as Houston, Texas.

As Rita moved toward landfall, the system weakened to a category three by September 23rd, while making a more northerly turn toward the Texas/Louisiana state line. It was now clear that the Houston/Galveston region would be spared the brunt of Rita's fury.

Around 2:30 AM on September 24th, Hurricane Rita roared onshore between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana. Winds were approximately 120 MPH.

Rita remained a tropical storm until reaching northwest Louisiana.