Apocalypse Now

Virtually all of the hurricane forecasts are now pointing directly at the Houston/Galveston area as the landfall point for Hurricane Rita. Very dangerous, particularly since (according to the National Hurricane Center):

RITA'S CENTRAL PRESSURE IS ESTIMATED TO BE 897 MB...MAKING IT THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE FOR THE ATLANTIC BASIN.

That's EVER, as in all history! As the Weather Channel states:

Landfall is possible late Friday or early Saturday along the Texas coast. Residents and tourists in locations such as Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, San Jose Island, Matagorda Island, Port Lavaca, Port O'Connor, Bay City, Lake Jackson, Freeport, Galveston, Texas City, Houston, and Port Arthur should ALL prepare for a very dangerous landfalling major hurricane.

History has shown (in 1900) that Galveston is quite vulnerable to storm surge, and the current forecast shows landfall just west of Galveston (perfectly placed for maximum storm surge). After that, the storm will go blasting through Houston, and eastern Texas, and into the Ouachita Mtns. of Oklahoma and Arkansas, leading to torrential flooding there.

Time to flee!