This is a story from Foxnews.com on 21 Sep 2005 Hurricane Rita Grows to Category 4 Storm Wednesday, September 21, 2005 KEY WEST, Fla. — Hurricane Rita (search) on Wednesday grew into a potentially killer Category 4 storm, as forecasters said its winds have reached 135 mph as its churns toward landfall later this week on the Gulf Coast. Residents of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas, were being urged to evacuate one day after Rita skirted past the Florida Keys (search) as a Category 2 storm, causing minimal damage. • Click here to track Hurricane Rita. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (search) urged residents to heed calls for evacuation Wednesday. "We've been in very close contact with the governor, with the state emergency managers, talking about their evacuation plans. They've got buses and other vehicles available for people who can't drive themselves out," Chertoff told FOX News. "They're moving very early on the issue of evacuation and I'm hopeful people will take it very seriously this time," he said. "I'm operating on the assumption that a Category 4 will hit Texas," Chertoff said. Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Director R. David Paulison said the agency has aircraft and buses available to evacuate residents of areas the hurricane might hit. Rescue teams and truckloads of ice, water and prepared meals were being sent to Texas. In Galveston, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said the Department of Public Safety and National Guard were available to help following a storm. "We are very sensitive to the storms here,” she told FOX News. In addition, “Our communication with the state emergency management people is excellent,” Thomas said. Mary Jo Naschke, public information officer, told FOX News that people wishing to leave Galveston could make bus reservations by calling 409-797-3710. Individuals with special needs will be boarded first, followed by those with reservations. “We’re looking for early Saturday morning” for landfall, Naschke said. People were being encouraged to leave with their pets, which Thomas said should be transported in carriers displaying the animal's name and be wearing collars that also identify the pet. In Louisiana, fewer than 1,000 people remained in the city, said Task Force New Orleans' commander, Brig. Gen. Myles Deerfield. “We’re here to preserve lives. … We’re treating it very seriously,” he said, adding that another 3 inches of rain could overwhelm the city's weakened levee system. Federal officials also warned Gulf Coast residents to brace for a blockbuster storm. "Up and down the coastline, people are now preparing for what is anticipated to be another significant storm," President Bush said. Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison (search) told reporters that the agency has aircraft and buses available to evacuate residents of areas the hurricane might hit. Rescue teams and truckloads of ice, water and prepared meals were being sent to Texas and Florida. "I strongly urge Gulf coast residents to pay attention" to the storm, he said. Stung by criticism of the government's slow initial response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush signed an emergency declaration for Florida and spoke with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about planning for the storm's landfall. Rita created relatively few problems along the Keys, where thousands of relieved residents who evacuated are expected to begin returning in earnest on Wednesday. During daytime hours, several stretches of the Keys highway, U.S. 1, were barricaded because of water and debris; by nightfall, only one small problem area remained and the entire highway was passable, the Florida Highway Patrol said. There were reports of localized flooding, and some sections of the Lower Keys were still without power early Wednesday. But the storm's raging eye did not hit land. "It was fairly nothing," said Gary Wood, who owns a bar in Marathon, about 45 miles northeast of Key West. "It came through and had a good stiff wind, but that was about it." In Key Colony Beach, an oceanfront island off Marathon, Mayor Clyde Burnett said a restaurant and hotel were damaged by water and wind, but that widespread problems simply didn't arrive as expected. Visitors ordered out of the Keys will be invited back Friday, and virtually all other voluntary evacuation orders in South Florida were lifted after Rita roared past. Now, all eyes following Rita are turning toward the Gulf — where the hurricane is causing new anxiety among Katrina victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. At 5 a.m. EDT, Rita's eye was about 175 miles west of Key West. The storm was moving west at 14 mph — a track that kept the most destructive winds at sea and away from Key West. Maximum sustained winds increased to near 120 mph. "There's still plenty of warm water that it needs to move over in the next couple days. The forecast is favorable for further intensification," said Michelle Mainelli, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center. Those were words that Gulf Coast residents certainly did not want to hear. Even those who had survived major hurricanes were getting ready to leave, not wanting to challenge Rita's potential wrath or cling to hope that they'd be spared in the same manner the Keys were. "Destination unknown," said Catherine Womack, 71, who was boarding up the windows on her one-story brick house in Galveston. "I've never left before. I think because of Katrina, there is a lot of anxiety and concern. It's better to be safe than sorry." About 80 buses were set to leave the city Wednesday bound for shelters 100 miles north in Huntsville. The buses were part of a mandatory evacuation ordered by officials in Galveston County, which has a population of nearly 267,000. "We've always asked people to leave earlier, but because of Katrina, they are now listening to us and they're leaving as we say," Galveston Mayor Thomas said. Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, making this the fourth-busiest season since record-keeping started in 1851. The record is 21 tropical storms in 1933. Six hurricanes have hit Florida in the last 13 months. The hurricane season ends Nov. 30. The Associated Press contributed to this report.