Pray for people in Rita's path

Last time I knew Galveston's population was around 2000, and it was a little under 60,000 then.

Houston is in spitting distance of the Island. It's main population is 1.9 million, the metroplex population is 5.2 million.

I don't know quite how much damage they are expecting as it moves inland, but they are telling people to prepare for a category 4 or category 5 hit.

The M.D. Anderson Medical Clinic in Houston is miles wide, there is a branch of Texas A&M University at Galveston, NASA closed, there are small towns all along that area. This is the big shipping lane for Texas. UT Medical at Galveston said they have some patients too sick to leave, so they're going to ride it out. And when they talk about "flooding" in the area, they mean flooding. Houston isn't as bad as New Orleans, but the weight of the city had caused it to sink, and 30% of the county lies in a flood plain.