Levees: Texas officials are warning of a catastrophe while rising water has breached levees to cause flooding in parts of New Orleans anew, as a slightly weaker Hurricane Rita moves towards the Gulf Coast.
In New Orleans, fast-rising water from Rita's outer edge spilled over a freshly patched levee to flood a neighbourhood already deserted and devastated by Katrina.
Water from the city's industrial canal, where the levee breached during Katrina, submerged houses in the ninth ward where nearly all are already damaged beyond repair. Water also poured from under the canal's western barrier, facing the city centre.
"There appear to be at least two breaches of some size," homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said in Washington. - (Reuters)