Fleeing Hurricane Rita
Gulf residents try to evacuate Houston on Interstate 45 at North Street in preparation for Hurricane Rita. (Michael Ainsworth / AP)
A young man tries to cross Interstate 10 in search of a restroom after being stuck for hours in traffic out of Houston. (Gerardo Mora / EPA)
Storm evacuees stand on the side of Highway 290 in Houston on Thursday. Major freeways, especially around Houston, were at a near standstill as hundreds of thousands of people fled to safety. (Ron Heflin / AP)
A woman stands outside her car on Interstate-45 near downtown Houston on Thursday. Thousands of people are evacuating the Texas coast. Officials will be reversing the southbound lane on the interstate to four lanes for northbound traffic. (Rick Bowmer / AP)
An oil refinery on Galveston Bay in Texas City, Texas. Hurricane Rita threatens a large portion of the U.S. oil and gas operations industry in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Texas coast. (Robert Sullivan/ AFP)
Gilbert Cabrera said his station in Houston ran out of gas around 2 a.m. Thursday, leading to several fights among customers leaving the city for safer places inland. (Rick Bowmer / AP Photo)
Traders work in the crude oil futures pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Crude oil prices climbed above $68 a barrel as Hurricane Rita closed in on Texas, raising fears it would hit key production facilities along the Gulf Coast. (Mary Altaffer / AP)
Evacuees on school buses, RVs and other vehicles jam Interstate 45 heading out of Galveston, Texas. (James Nielsen / AFP/Getty Images)
Clouds loom over downtown Mobile, Ala., Wednesday as Hurricane Rita makes its way toward the Gulf Coast. (Dan Anderson / EPA)