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Matagorda County escapes storm unscathed
Published September 25, 2005
Matagorda County’s two swing bridges that cross the Intracoastal Waterway were closed until further notice Saturday morning as Texas Department of Transportation crews cleaned debris dumped by Hurricane Rita’s storm surge, a county official said.
Matagorda County Emergency Coordinator Bob Watts expected people living past the swing bridges along FM 2031 in Matagorda and FM 457 in Sargent could return as early as Saturday night.
The county lifted its mandatory evacuation order Saturday,
Watts said.
“We’re cautioning (evacuees) though, depending on where they are, because of the fuel shortages,” he said.
Midweek forecasts for Hurricane Rita’s landfall placed the storm slicing through Matagorda County as a Category 4 hurricane Saturday morning.
A gradual turn to the north spared the county a direct hit as the storm’s center glided inland four counties away near Beaumont-Port Arthur.
“We’re blessed,” Watts said.
Sargent experienced minor street flooding, he said. As of Saturday morning, Watts didn’t know the extent of damage from Rita’s storm surge to sand dunes or Matagorda’s jetty pier.
Downed tree limbs littered streets and yards in Bay City and Palacios. Public works crews cleared most of that debris by midday Saturday, Watts said.
Bay City hardly received any rain during Rita’s passage, and signs of life returned by Saturday afternoon, Mayor Richard Knapik said.
“People are coming back home from Austin and San Antonio,” Knapik said. “H-E-B’s open, Wal-Mart’s open, three or four gas stations are open — the town’s coming back.”
There were no reports of looting in Bay City, he said.
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