Rita Upgraded To Category 4

On Track To Hit Gulf Coast, Most Likely Texas, Maybe Louisiana

(CBS/AP)  Rita has picked up more steam, upgraded Wednesday morning to a Category 4 Hurricane with 135 mph winds. Rita appears headed for the Gulf Coast with Texas a likely target and western Louisiana and northern Mexico also possibilities.

And things could get worse: the Hurricane Center says Rita could make its second strike at the end of the week, possibly Friday.

Tuesday, Rita went from a tropical storm with top sustained wind of 70 mph early in the day to a hurricane with 100 mph winds by early afternoon as it passed just south of the Florida Keys. Then, overnight, it moved up to Category 3 and then 4.

Texas Governor Rick Perry's office says about 4,000 evacuees from Louisiana will be moved to Fort Chafee, Arkansas, 3,000 will be moved to Tennessee, and 250 will be moved to Nebraska.

In New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers is racing to patch up the city's fractured levee system. Residents who refused to flee Katrina - and those who have returned home - were again urged to evacuate, with the chance that heavy rain could trigger new floods.

Rita is now located about 145 miles west of Key West and about 130 miles northwest of Havana, moving west at about 14 mph, with hurricane force winds extending 45 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds reaching out 140 miles from the eye of the storm, the season's fifth major hurricane.

In the wake of Rita's first strike, at least one segment of the Florida Keys highway, U.S. 1, is now barricaded because of water and debris from the storm surge that washed over the road - the only one in and out of the area. Scattered power outages are also reported.

According to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, about 1,300 people are in shelters in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and all three Keys hospitals were evacuated.

Thousands of residents and tourists had fled the low-lying island chain, where forecasters said Rita could dump up to 8 inches of rain, down from earlier forecasts of up to 15 inches.

Gov. Bush says over 2,000 Florida National Guard troops and dozens of law enforcement officers are ready to deal with the storm's aftermath. More than 200 truckloads of ice and water were prepared for delivery to the Keys if needed and helicopters are in place for search and rescue.

"We have got a lot of flooding, it is literally almost up to our knees. This storm surge is really coming over — there's a 4-foot wall behind these homes and the water is coming over these homes," said Tina Verona of CBS station WFOR-TV, reporting from Marathon, Fla.

Roads were nearly deserted in Marathon, about 45 miles northeast of Key West, and virtually all businesses were closed, except for the Stuffed Pig diner, where workers promised to keep serving food regardless of the weather.

"We've stayed open lots of times with no power. We've got a gas stove so it gets awful hot in here but we can still serve up food," said Julie Gervasio, who has worked at the restaurant for five years.