Amarillo College Ranger

Issue date: 9/29/05 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Laura Leedy Above, Capt. Bob Johnson of the Amarillo Fire Department hands crayons and a coloring book to 6-year-old Triston Tousha from Baytown at the Amarillo Civic Center. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Laura Leedy Below, Gregg Lewis takes 3-year-old Zashay Turner´s picture for her badge at the Amarillo Civic Center. Each hurricane evacuee must have a photo badge so workers can distinguish who belongs at the shelter and who does not. [Click to enlarge]

Seventeen-year-old Jami Christley and her brother, 20-year-old Matthew Christley, live just 15 miles from the coast in Angleton.

It's the place where Hurricane Rita was supposed to hit. Rita slammed ashore Friday after 3 million people left the Gulf Coast, an evacuation that caused the worst traffic jam in the history of the United States but was deemed successful.

"It took them five hours to go 15 miles," said Luinda Verden, an English and journalism teacher at Caprock High School. "They live 15 miles from West Columbia, and it took them five hours to get there."

Verden's niece and nephew evacuated to their grandparents' house in San Antonio Sept. 21. It took 10 hours to get there, a trip that normally takes four.

School was canceled on the coast to allow students to evacuate. Jami, a senior at Angleton High School, will have a high school to go back to, though. "They went back yesterday, and everything was fine," Verden said. "Just some wind and rain. They didn't even have tree damage."

The highway was gridlocked all the way to Dallas. The bumper-to-bumper traffic was further compromised by a bus explosion that killed 24 people.

After hosting Hurricana Katrina evacuees, Amarillo received 229 Rita evacuees from the Houston area even though the area was spared the majority of the storm. "There were 229 max, down to 141 this morning with people checking out," Amarillo Police Officer Jerry Neufield said Monday. Neufield said officials were waiting to get the remaining evacuees on a plane back to Houston. Unlike evacuees from Katrina, most of the evacuees still have homes to go back to.

Oil refineries were left unscathed, sparing gas prices. Rita had been expected to hit the refineries head on, shutting them down for at least two weeks.

According to Yahoo News, the only two refineries hit were the ones at Port Arthur, east of Houston. They produce about 500,000 barrels a day. It should take about two to four weeks to get them up and running.

"I think it is a good thing that gas prices are set at one price so that we do not have to worry about it going higher than it already is," said Matthew Yara, an auto mechanic major. "We know for now that gas prices are at $2.69.

After Katrina, gas prices had steadily retreated back to about $2.44 before jumping back up to $2.69 just as the Rita evacuees arrived.

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