Tale Of Two Towns

Don't tell people in areas hit directly by Hurricane Rita that it didn't pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina.

CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan

In Jasper, Texas, "Misery is measured by how many people you have in your home," Cowan says.

In the case of Amy Strazz, it's 25 people in an 1,800-square foot, two-story house.

Of those 25, at least two who are ill, and all are evacuees from 80 miles south.

"We're making due," she says. "We have a little food. It will last two, maybe three days. We're running out of water."

They're getting water out of a nearby creek to make their rather busy bathroom at least partially useful.

They may not get power again for a month.

To the west, officials were opening the floodgates of a dam to drain the water and check for any cracks.

But to do that, they had to evacuate hundreds of residents downstream in case the release caused more flooding.

Cowan crossed the Sabine into Marysville, La., and found things there about the same as in Jasper.

Rita's eye crossed Marysville, where they are also running out of food and water.

"And gas," says Cowan. "What little gas they have, they're putting in their chainsaws to help clear the roads" of huge trees blocking them.

No federal help has been seen in Marysville yet, Cowan says.

It's a small Louisiana town, with only about 1,200 residents, most of them trapped until help arrives, just like their neighbors across the border in Jasper.

"We have no homes, no jobs and no help," evacuee Rhonda Koons says.