The Hurricane That Emptied an Entire City — Houston 2005

On September 22nd, 2005, two million people tried to leave the Texas coast at once, ahead of Hurricane Rita – a Category 5 aimed at Galveston Bay and the fourth-largest city in the United States. But it wasn't the storm that killed the most people. It was the road out – a hundred miles of stopped cars in hundred-degree heat, gas stations that had run dry, and a bus from a Houston assisted living home that never reached Dallas. What followed killed more people than the hurricane itself. 0:00 Two Million People on the Road 1:09 Twenty-Six Days After Katrina 2:37 From Key West to Category 5 4:21 895 Millibars 5:49 Contraflow 7:29 112 Degrees Inside the Cars 8:54 The Bus From Bellaire 9:53 Near Wilmer 12:02 Rita Never Reached Galveston 13:22 What Texas Changed For copyright and business inquiries, contact us at: [email protected] Music by Epidemic Sound.