Rescuers Search for Rita Victims
2005-09-25 00:00:00
Rescuers fanned out early Sunday in southwest Louisiana to search for trapped people who did not heed the mandatory evacuation orders issued ahead of Hurricane Rita.

Hurricane Rita weakened and its strong winds became slower.

Residents who evacuated the Texas Gulf Coast were returning home on Sunday, even after authorities urged them to stay away.

Some traffic jams were reported on Interstates 10 and 45, which lead back into Houston, but there has not been a repeat of the gridlock that plagued people evacuating the Gulf Coast last week.

The mayor of storm-ravaged New Orleans says residents can start returning to parts of the city just days after it was swamped by Hurricane Rita. Parts of New Orleans remain under several feet of floodwater, which poured through levees patched up after Hurricane Katrina.

One person was reported killed by a tornado in Mississippi. Workers are struggling to restore power to more than one million people along the Gulf Coast.