Taking a cue from the suffering in New Orleans, residents lined up for plywood and officials called for a voluntary evacuation of the island city of Galveston as Hurricane Rita threatened to slam into the Texas Coast this weekend.

Crude oil prices were back near $67 a barrel today after jumping 7% amid fears about the impact of a new storm bearing down on the United States.

A new storm bearing down on the Gulf coast of the United States revived jitters over winter fuel supplies and pushed oil prices sharply higher today.