Wary Galveston taking no chances

WASHINGTON - It was Glen Campbell who got it right. "Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'," he sang in his 1969 hit. "Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea waves crashing."

This Texas town - in direct line of Hurricane Rita - has seen devastation before. In 1900 it suffered what remains the United States's most deadly natural disaster when a huge hurricane struck, killing up to 8000 people.

This time, the city is taking no chances in the prospect of 6m waves surging over the Texas coastline and the Mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas, has already ordered an evacuation.

"The real lesson that I think the citizens learned is that the people in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi did not leave in time. We've always asked people to leave earlier, but, because of Katrina, they are now listening to us."

School buses bound for emergency centres began leaving Galveston County, which has about 267,000 residents, on Wednesday. "These storms are horrible. They are treacherous," Ldyyan Jean Jocque, 59, told the Houston Chronicle, as she waited for a bus. "After this killer in New Orleans, Katrina, I just cannot fathom staying."

In 1900 there was no such evacuation. There was confusion within the US Weather Bureau's Washington headquarters as to the likely course of the storm and reports from its staff in Cuba claimed there was nothing to worry about. Just days before the storm struck Galveston, the bureau's senior official, Willis Moore, sent a telegram to Texas reminding his staff that only headquarters could issue a storm warning.

Galveston was hit by another huge hurricane in 1915 when a schooner and its crew were flung over the top of the newly built sea-wall. Other hurricanes hit, or else narrowly missed, in 1919, 1932, 1941, 1943, 1949, 1957, 1961 and 1983.

Disaster deja vu

Rita is a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 280 km/h.

It is expected to come ashore between Galveston and Corpus Christi. Even a slight turn and glancing blow could be devastating to New Orleans.

About 1.3 million people along a 483km stretch of the Gulf coast were ordered to clear out.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for New Orleans, Galveston, and vulnerable parts of Houston.

Houstonians created traffic jams on interstate highways.

The death toll from Katrina rose above 1000 when 63 more bodies were recovered in Louisiana.

An estimated 319,000 National Guard troops nationwide were available to respond to Rita if needed.

Several Navy amphibious assault ships were stationed offshore to assist relief efforts in Rita's wake.

- REUTERS and INDEPENDENT