Hurricane Rita, the fourth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, made landfall in the early-morning hours of Sept. 24, 2005. 

Rita reached a peak Category 5 intensity, with sustained winds of more than 180 miles per hour. It came ashore as a Category 3 in Cameron Parish just east of the Louisiana/Texas border, and was the strongest storm to hit southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana since Audrey on June 27, 1957. 

Rita brought storm surge ranging from 7 to 18 feet along with rainfall of up to 16 inches, and caused some $18.5 billion worth of damage. The storm flooded downtown Lake Charles, destroying Harrah’s casino and damaging the civic center. A tornado struck the city’s airport terminal.

Several towns in Vermilion Parish flooded, along with many farms and ranches. Some fields were ruined for up to three growing seasons after salt water overtopped levees. The storm triggered one of the largest mass evacuations in U.S. history.

While the evacuation no doubt saved lives, it also showed the inherent danger in moving a large population of people in a short amount of time. Seven deaths in the United States were directly attributed to Rita, and more than 100 fatalities were said to be caused by the evacuation and aftermath associated with the storm. 

Though Hurricane Rita caused destruction across Louisiana’s coast, its victims often felt overlooked compared to the attention New Orleans received after Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall less than a month before Rita. Perhaps that was unavoidable, as Katrina and the levee failures associated with the storm killed more than 1,500 people. 

And of course, New Orleans is an international city that most people have at least heard of, while Rita’s devastation was spread out over many smaller towns. Southwest Mississippi residents had similar complaints about being ignored after Katrina. 

One of the buildings Rita ravaged was getting a facelift this year. City officials say the former Harrah’s parking garage, an eyesore basically untouched since 2005, will be an asset to Lakefront development.

Sources consulted for this piece include the National Hurricane Center, LSU Libraries, 64 Parishes and KPLC.

This piece first ran in the Sept. 19, 2024 edition of LaPolitics Weekly. Wish you could have read it then? Subscribe today!