In Rita's Path

Kyle Boudreaux takes his horse as he leaves his flooded neighborhood in Erath, La. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Volunteers search a flooded neighborhood in Abbeville, La. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Bryan LeBlanc, in the water, and Gaston Doucet try to move their boat off an underwater obstacle while searching the neighborhood for people trapped in flooded homes in Abbeville, La. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Rita flooded Pauline Guidets home in Erath, La., forcing her to leave. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Angela Diagle was evacuated from her flooded home in Erath, La. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

Soldiers help people get off the truck after they were evacuated from a flooded neighborhood in Abbeville, La. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

A power company truck drives under broken power poles in Lake Charles, La. Strong winds and heavy rains downed scores of trees and power poles in Lake Charles, which is near the Texas-Louisiana border. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

A heavily damaged office building in downtown Lake Charles, La. The eye of Hurricane Rita passed through the town, bringing strong winds and heavy rains in its wake. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Hurricane Rita damaged dozens of mobile homes and cars in a trailer park on the south side of Lake Charles, La. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

A television news crew walks along the shore of Lake Charles, La. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Boats bob in rough waters as strong winds whip across Lake Charles, La. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Lake Charles, La., firefighters walk through a twisted piece of tin siding at a mobile home park in the city’s south side. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Rita flooded homes along the Shell Beach Drive in Lake Charles, La. High winds downed trees and power lines and caused a storm surge of about 20 feet in Lake Charles, which is located near the Texas-Louisiana border. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Police officers navigate through fallen trees and street signs along Shell Beach Drive in Lake Charles, La., where Hurricane Rita caused a storm surge of about 20 feet. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Motorists drive along the Shell Beach Drive in Lake Charles, La., where Hurricane Rita downed trees and power lines and caused a storm surge of about 20 feet. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

A storm surge caused by Hurricane Rita left these boathouses partly submerged on the shores of Lake Charles, La. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

A motorist braves floodwaters along the Lakeshore Drive in Lake Charles, La. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Katrina Kirkland, 17, hugs a teddy bear as she rides out Hurricane Rita at the Elegante Hotel in Beaumont, Texas. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Melanie Baker, a Hurricane Katrina refugee, rides out Rita with daughters Michelle, 3, left, and Johnise, 4, in a darkened hallway of the Elegante Hotel in Beaumont, Texas. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Rita evacuees in the Elegante Hotel in Beaumont, Texas, use flashlights after the hurricane causes a citywide power outage on Saturday. (Luis Sinco / LAT)

Ambulances line up outside St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas to evacuate patients, nurses and other medical personnel Saturday afternoon. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Hurricane Rita knocked down several trees, blocking this street in Beaumont, Texas. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Ruth Teague reads from the Book of Psalms by window light in a Houston hotel after Rita knocked out the power in the area. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

St. Elizabeth hospital nurses and other medical personnel evacuate the building Saturday afternoon after spending the night in the hospital as Hurricane Rita ravaged the area. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A man rides with a bike-load of scrap metal he found in the street in Beaumont, Texas on Saturday. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A massive tree lies uprooted in Beaumont, Texas. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

A restaurant sign lies blown down in Beaumont, Texas. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Gerald Pitre, 23, and his wife, Patricia, 25, leave their flooded trailer with their dog, T-Bone, in Crown Pointe, La. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Chuck Conley, 42, walks through Oak Trailer Park in Crown Pointe, La., which was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita on Saturday. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Torie Ali prepares to evacuate her flooded home in Crown Pointe, La. Ali, her husband and their dog were leaving to stay with a friend. Ali has lived all her life in the house that she inherited from her grandmother. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Derek Perez and Philip David steer their boat in Crown Pointe, La.. They rescued five people from the floods in Jean Lafitte, La., and were on their way to help more friends. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

A fatigued Raza Ali, 33, sits on the back of his truck with his dog, Sheena, after water from an overflowing levee flooded his house in Crown Pointe, La. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Gary Bach, on the chair, sits on the porch of his home with his cousin Tony Presten Bach in Crown Pointe, La. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Harold Dean Begnaud, 27, looks at a Baptist church in Crown Pointe, La., which was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. Begnaud’s trailer was surrounded by water and the floorboards are starting to buckle. The floodwater was just inches from entering his home. (Genaro Molina / LAT)

Hurricane Rita tossed several boats out of the water in Lake Charles, La. as it made landfall early Saturday morning. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Carrie Nichols watches as her husband, Kenny Nichols, tries to secure their boat after it broke free from its moorings in Lake Charles, La. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Hurricane Rita damaged several buildings including this casino in Lake Charles, La., as it hit the Gulf Coast on Saturday. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Ducks float in the floodwaters around a guesthouse and boathouse in Lake Charles, La. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Casey Cook, 21, of Orange, Texas, weeps at the grave of her best friend, Sophia Marie Scott, which was damaged. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

A red light dangles from a wire in Port Arthur, Texas on Saturday morning after Hurricane Rita rolled through the area. (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Kenny Nichols of Lake Charles, La., wades through several feet of floodwaters as he tries to get to his boat that broke free during the storm. (Rick Loomis / LAT)