A million flee as Rita gains strength

AS many as one million people were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast as hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated yesterday.

Hurricane Rita has now turned into a Category-5, 266km/h monster that could slam Texas by the weekend and inflict more misery on New Orleans.

Forecasters said Rita could be the most intense hurricane on record ever to hit Texas, and easily one of the most powerful ever to plow into the US mainland. Category 5 is the highest on the scale, and only three Category 5 hurricanes are known to have hit the US mainland - most recently, Andrew, which smashed south Florida in 1992.