Impact
In some areas, the effects of Hurricane Rita were not nearly as severe as anticipated. The storm surge feared in Galveston and Houston struck farther east as the storm's center came ashore at the Louisiana border; winds blowing offshore in Texas actually flattened the surge, which was only seven feet (2 m), well below the height of the Galveston seawall. The five inches (130 mm) of rain expected to fall overnight in New Orleans also did not happen, and the pressure on the levee system was eased. Still, storm surge of 17 feet (3.2 m) struck southwestern Louisiana, and coastal parishes experienced extensive damage. In Cameron Parish the communities of Holly Beach, Hackberry, Cameron, Creole and Grand Chenier were essentially destroyed. In Calcasieu Parish the communities of Lake Charles, Moss Bluff, Sulphur, Westlake, Vinton and DeQuincy also suffered heavy damage. In Beauregard Parish the communities of DeRidder and Merryville also suffered heavy damage.
An estimated two million people lost electricity. Total damage is estimated at approximately $12 billion, making Rita the ninth-costliest storm in U.S. history.
Following Rita, gas prices fell in the U.S instead of rising as feared.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Rita
Famous quotes containing the word impact:
“If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“Conquest is the missionary of valour, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)