Rita response showed gains
From the federal to local levels, efforts have been more orderly.
The Air Force sent recovery helicopters from nuclear missile bases in the mountain West.
The Department of Energy created a floating gas station for relief efforts, using the SS Potomac, a pipeline vessel, at the port of Orange in Texas.
The Agriculture Department sent 50 veterinarians and wildlife specialists to help stranded pets and zoo animals.
The national response to hurricane Rita - from the federal government, as well as from states and local municipalities - appears to have been focused and orderly in a way that the response to hurricane Katrina was not.
It helps that the storm itself was not as ferocious as the one that swamped New Orleans, and that most people in harm's way fled before its onslaught. The slowness of the road evacuation, however, raised questions about whether any large US city can be emptied in a timely manner.
Still, disaster planners had two things working in their favor: forewarning, plus the sting of a recent botched example. Neither factor might be present in the next natural disaster or in a terrorist attack.
"With Rita, we had the benefit of time. We may not have that time in an earthquake scenario or similar incident," said Maj. Gen. John White, a member of the military task force for hurricane Rita, on Sunday.
Nevertheless, the general feeling in the area after the storm passed appeared to be one of relief. Take the experience of Port Arthur, a petrochemical industry town near the Texas-Louisiana border.
Patrolling the Lakeside area of Port Arthur, Jefferson County Constable Eddie Collins says he's seen mostly wind damage, with trees downed and roofs ripped off - but no water damage.
Because 90 percent of the town evacuated for the storm, he's keeping an eye on property while residents are kept out. "I can't give enough praise to the people for leaving," said Constable Collins.
He and other local law-enforcement officials hunkered down in a community north of Beaumont for the storm. Now, he believes the recovery efforts will go much more smoothly than in New Orleans because "little communities lack the red tape." He adds, "Any time you have large government entities running things, everybody's got a boss and you can't get anything done."
In the hours after the storm passed, all along Interstate 10, ambulances, state troopers, National Guard convoys, and Salvation Army trucks rolled steadily east, eventually gathering in a Ford dealership just outside Beaumont.
The three oil refineries in Port Arthur were taken offline before the storm and were running on skeleton crews afterward. None sustained major damage, according to initial reports.
Warren Owens was one of those working feverishly to shut down the Valero refinery before Rita hit. He says he was planning to evacuate, but when his paycheck didn't arrive because of the storm, he didn't have enough money or gas to get out of town. So the rig ironworker rode it out inside his tiny apartment.
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