Twenty years ago this week, and just short of one month after Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of the Mississippi coast and put New Orleans under water for weeks, the unthinkable happened: An even stronger Category 5 hurricane threatened the Gulf States once again.
Overshadowed by Katrina in the annals of history, Hurricane Rita terrified residents across the Gulf Coast who were still in shock amid a historic hurricane season, and caused the evacuation of millions of people in Texas.
Ultimately, the storm made landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border on Sept. 24, 2005, delivering the worst of the storm surge and extreme winds to the southwestern Louisiana coast.
Rita was strongest in the Gulf, ranked #2 for all Atlantic hurricanes
At sea, Category 5 Hurricane Rita's maximum strength was a minimum pressure of 26.43 inches of mercury (895 mb), lower than Katrina's 26.64 inches of mercury (895 mb). Rita remained the strongest hurricane to be measured in the Gulf of Mexico until Hurricane Milton tied Rita's pressure reading in 2024.
