List of Storms in The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season - Hurricane Rita

Hurricane Rita

The season's eighteenth tropical depression formed over the Turks and Caicos Islands on September 18. Later that day, it became the seventeenth tropical storm of the season. Rita slowly intensified to become a hurricane on September 20. It was at Category 1 and later Category 2 intensity as it moved south of the Florida Keys. Rapid intensification ensued as Rita moved into the Gulf of Mexico on September 20, and Rita became a Category 5 hurricane on September 21, becoming at the time the third-most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin with a minimum central pressure of 895 mbar, though it would later fall to fourth following Hurricane Wilma. However, as the storm moved slowly across the Gulf of Mexico it gradually weakened until landfall. Rita made landfall as a weak Category 3 hurricane in Cameron Parish, Louisiana near the Texas/Louisiana border on September 24, 2005.

Major flooding was reported in Port Arthur and Beaumont. Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes in Louisiana were also devastated. Offshore oil platforms throughout Rita's path also suffered significant damage, though the refineries of Houston, originally thought to be at risk, escaped the brunt of the storm. Seven people are confirmed dead from Rita's direct effects, and total damage from the storm is estimated at $10 billion, almost entirely in Texas and Louisiana. 55-112 indirect deaths have also been reported, most resulting from incidents during the evacuation of Houston when the storm was predicted to strike the city. Many of the indirect deaths were caused by a single bus fire in the mass exodus.

• The NHC's archive on Hurricane Rita
• The HPC's archive on Hurricane Rita