Hurricane Rita comes ashore

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, igniting the pre-dawn sky with exploding transformers and threatening to flood the low-lying region.

Rita made landfall at 8.38am Irish time as a Category 3 storm just east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana border, bringing with it a 20ft storm surge and up to 25 inches of rain, the National Hurricane Centre said.