UPDATE: Rita Become Category 5 Hurricane on Path Across Gulf

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Rita strengthened into a Category 5 storm as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas and Louisiana, surpassing the power Katrina had when it swept ashore three weeks ago and became the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
Rita has winds of 165 mph (265 kph), putting it in the highest intensity level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the National Hurricane Center said. Rita's reach may extend anywhere from northeast Mexico to along the Texas coast and up to the western half of Louisiana, said center spokesman Frank LePore said.

Category 5 storms have winds of 156 mph or stronger. Such storms can blow down trees and shrubs, completely destroy mobile homes and cause major damage to lower floors of buildings near the coast.

``Anything Category 5 and above is likely to cause catastrophic damage,'' LePore said in an interview.

Since record-keeping began, only three Category 5 storms have hit the U.S.: one that hit the Florida Keys in 1935; Hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi in 1969; and Andrew, which devastated southern Florida in 1992.

Oil Production Threatened

The threat a strengthening Rita poses to oil rigs, refineries and platforms in the Gulf pushed the price of crude oil and gasoline higher. Texas is the producer of a quarter of the nation's refined fuel.

``The Houston area is ground zero of the refining industry,'' said Rick Mueller, an analyst with Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Tilburg, the Netherlands. ``If it suffers the scope of damage caused to refineries in Louisiana by Katrina, we could see rationing and queues at the gas pump. This is something OPEC can't do anything to remedy.''

Federal emergency officials have water, ice, generators and other equipment already in place for Rita, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. He said today that Rita is ``a very different situation that we face in Texas, New Orleans was below sea level.''

Imminent Disaster

Texas Governor Rick Perry yesterday recalled National Guard members sent to help the Katrina recovery effort, so they could help in the state's preparations for Rita. He signed a proclamation stating Rita posed a ``threat of imminent disaster'' along the 367-mile Texas coast and the state Army National Guard mobilized 5,000 personnel and 11 helicopters.

Perry urged coastal residents from Beaumont to Corpus Christi, about 320 miles apart, to leave now. State officials are working to evacuate people from state-run facilities and those who can't leave on their own.