Despite being asked to wait, residents who evacuated in the days before the storm begin returning to the Gulf Coast, causing traffic delays and raising concerns about access for emergency vehicles and fuel tankers.
A bus filled with elderly evacuees from the Houston area, including four who had previously been evacuated from New Orleans, caught fire on a highway near Dallas, killing 23.
CNN's Mary Snow reports on "disheartened" engineers again working on New Orleans levees after Rita's floodwaters swept into neighborhoods drained just days earlier.
Coastal Cameron Parish was under as much as 15 feet of water, and local officials said as many as 90 percent of homes in Cameron, the parish seat, were destroyed.
HURRICANE RITA September 17-24 Rita hit South Florida and the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm on September 20. As it moved away from Florida, Rita became Category 5. After weakening, Rita came ashore again September 24 near Port Arthur, Texas, as a Category 3.
Two refineries reported damage following Rita, and officials said it could take weeks to resume operations.
Despite being asked to wait, residents who evacuated in the days before the storm begin returning to the Gulf Coast, causing traffic delays and raising concerns about access for emergency vehicles and fuel tankers. 
In Galveston, a city destroyed by the worst hurricane in U.S. history in 1900, damage was not as severe as feared. 
Looters compounded the damage in this small refinery town, police say, but Mother Nature caused most of the destruction. 
A bus filled with elderly evacuees from the Houston area, including four who had previously been evacuated from New Orleans, caught fire on a highway near Dallas, killing 23.
CNN's Mary Snow reports on "disheartened" engineers again working on New Orleans levees after Rita's floodwaters swept into neighborhoods drained just days earlier. 
Rescue teams evacuated hundreds of residents from flooded areas. As much as 8 feet of water was reported in some towns.
CNN's Anderson Cooper experienced the storm's fury as it made landfall early September 24.
Coastal Cameron Parish was under as much as 15 feet of water, and local officials said as many as 90 percent of homes in Cameron, the parish seat, were destroyed.
Lake Charles, Louisiana, was flooded and damaged by winds as it caught the force of Rita's powerful northeastern quadrant. 
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