Commemorating the 20-year Anniversary of Hurricane Rita

It was just a month ago that residents of the Gulf Coast commemorated the 20-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Often overlooked during this time period was the landfall of Hurricane Rita, a storm that came ashore less than a month after Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area. This is a good time to look back at Rita, a storm that is typically overshadowed by its historic predecessor.

Hurricane Rita Prompts Largest Evacuation in American History

Hurricane Rita is best known for triggering one of the most widespread evacuations for a natural disaster in American history. It was 20 years ago this week that Rita came ashore near the border of Louisiana and Texas. Gulf Coast residents were still reeling from the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Katrina when Rita came to life and threatened the region once again.

Rita made landfall on September 24, 2005, unleashing massive levels of storm surge and powerful winds to the southwestern corner of the Louisiana coastline.  Rita hit a maximum status of a Category 5 hurricane while swirling in the warm waters of the Gulf. Its minimum pressure of 26.43 inches of mercury was lower than Katrina's 26.24 inches. Rita held on to the title of the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf for 19 years until Hurricane Milton tied its pressure reading just last year.