MORE than a million people were preparing to leave Houston and southern Texas last night as Hurricane Rita, a 300-mile wide Category 5 storm, headed for the oil-rich Gulf Coast.

As the death toll from Hurricane Katrina passed 1,000, oil prices hit $68 a barrel and Rita, potentially more powerful, bore down on the Texas coast. It is expected to hit land on Saturday. Officials in New Orleans issued a warning that even 3in of rain could overwhelm the damaged protective levees. Army engineers worked round the clock to make repairs.

Rita, with wind speeds of 165mph, is expected to make landfall southeast of Houston, near the coastal city of Galveston, the scene of a hurricane that killed up to 12,000 people in 1900. Standing in its presumed path are three of the country’s five largest refineries.

Agbeli Ameko, an energy analyst, said: “What wasn’t hit by Katrina is being targeted by Rita. The market is taking the storm very seriously.”

Nasa ordered the evacuation of the Johnson Space Centre in Houston and turned over control of the International Space Station to its Russian partners as most of its staff fled from Rita.

President Bush, declaring a state of emergency in Louisiana and Texas, said: “We’ve got to be ready for the worst.”

Bill White, the Mayor of Houston, called for residents in low-lying, flood-prone areas of the city to leave, and asked them to help neighbours who could not move themselves.

Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, ordered 5,000 National Guardsmen and 1,000 state troopers into position.

The White House, federal officials and state and local politicians, chastened by the political and psychological impact of Katrina, promised that lessons had been learnt in New Orleans. Last night the poor and infirm were already being evacuated from Rita’s likely landfall, and a huge military and federal aid programme had begun.

Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Secretary who was heavily criticised for the initially feeble response to Katrina, said of Rita: “I think we are going to be ready when it does hit land.”

Hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals were waiting last night at locations in Rita’s path and rescue and medical teams were in position.

Hospital patients in southern Texas were evacuated. The Mayor of Galveston, Lyda Ann Thomas, declared a state of emergency and ordered a mandatory evacuation of nursing homes and assisted-living centres across the region.

“The real lesson (from Katrina) that I think the citizens learnt is that the people in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi did not leave in time,” Mayor Thomas said. “We’ve always asked people to leave earlier, but because of Katrina, they are now listening to us.”

By last night, 2,000 poor and infirm residents in Galveston had left the city by bus. Officials urged them to carry prescriptions to last at least three months. David Paulison, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that the Pentagon had set up a military field hospital in Texas and a field kitchen able to serve 5,000 meals a day.

“We are making an extraordinary effort to talk to local officials on an hourly basis,” he said. “We are not taking any chances with this storm. We are making sure that whatever resources we have will be on the ground.”

Governor Perry urged residents along the Texas coastline, from the Louisiana border to Mexico, to leave. The state has plans to accommodate 250,000 in shelters. “Homes and businesses can be rebuilt. Lives cannot. Now’s the time to leave,” he said.

As Texans fled, the military moved in. The 300-mile stretch of highway from New Orleans to Houston was packed with convoys of National Guard Humvees and US Army trucks that have spent the past three weeks assisting the Hurricane Katrina disaster effort.

They were accompanied by military petrol tankers and lorries carrying rations and water. Many of the military vehicles had “Hurricane Chaser” chalked on them.

One had a “To do” list written on the side, with Katrina’s name crossed out underneath, and the word Rita written in.

Members of the Texas National Guard had drawn red, white and blue flags on their vehicles along with the mottos: “Don’t mess with Texas” and “God bless Texas”.

There were also hundreds of power trucks equipped with trailers carrying thousands of feet of electrical wiring and repair equipment.

Kenneth Kerr, of the North Houston Pole Line electricity company, said it was his “28th straight day on the road . . . it’s been a heck of a year.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Thousands of Tamils dying in 'welfare camp'
• Jackson 'rebuilt his nose before he died'
• Renewed Iran protests crushed by militia