Galveston allowed citizens to begin returning Sunday, Sept. 25. Houston implemented a three-day return plan for evacuees, beginning Sunday, Sept. 25 and ending Tuesday, Sept. 27. Neither city will resume school until Thursday, Sept. 29 at the earliest.
In addition to getting citizens back in town, Houston and Galveston are also facing a fuel crisis and ongoing power outages. So, although they have given the all clear for residents to return, you may want to check before coming to town as a visitor.
Further to the east, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange all have fairly major problems to deal with before welcoming residents or visitors to return. These townships, all situated near the Louisiana border, took the brunt of Rita’s fury and suffered structural damage, flooding, power outages and more due to the storm. Officials are estimating it could be as long as three weeks to get power restored in all of the areas.
However, further down the coast, areas like Corpus Christi and South Padre Island were virtually untouched by the storm. Corpus Christi was evacuated since it appeared Rita may strike there early on. However, since Rita sheared north, Corpus suffered nothing more than high waves and a little erosion. Ditto for South Padre Island. If you have plans to visit either of these towns – or any other town along the lower or middle Texas coast – there is really no need to be concerned. Everything is business as usual in these areas.
