Tropical depression 18 formed in the
Atlantic Ocean on September 17th. This depression became the 17th named
storm of the season. Tropical Storm Rita became the 9th hurricane in the
Atlantic on September 20th. Rita intensified to a category 5 on September
21. Rita became the 3rd most intense hurricane in the Atlantic Basin on
September 21 with
a 897 mb pressure. Top winds were recorded at 175 mph. Rita weakened before
coming ashore as a Category 3 on September24, 2005 near Sabine Pass, Texas.
Due to the speed and strength of Rita, Inland Hurricane Warnings were issued as
far north as Lake Sam Rayburn/Toledo Bend area. Remnants of the eye wall
recorded gusts as high as 100 MPH at Lake Sam Rayburn before instruments went
offline. Rain fall recorded at Lake Sam Rayburn was 14 inches.
Rayburn RV Hideout closed for business on
September 23, 2005. We lost our power at about 11pm that night.
Early Saturday morning we were taking a direct hit from Rita. We also experienced about 45 minutes of calm in the eye
at about 10 am on the 24th. We reopened for business on September 29, 2005
when our power was restored.
Our buildings escaped damage from the
hurricane. We lost over 20 trees within the park. The majority of
our trees weathered the hurricane well. Our clean up of the camping area
is complete, and area around the park is almost complete as
of December 2005. All sites are open and available for camping.
You can see the aftermath of Rita by viewing
the pictures on the left. You can run your mouse over the picture for more
information about that picture. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it in
a new frame. Most of the pictures were taken in the eye of Rita, about 10
am on September 24, 2005. Pictures of clean up were taken in the days
afterward before power returned.
We would like to thank and we appreciated
all the phone calls, emails and offers of help from family and friends!
We invite you to come camping with us, and
enjoy the Lake Sam Rayburn area. Even though Hurricane Rita gave us a
little disruption in our lives, our community stands ready to welcome you and
let your enjoy some Texas hospitality!
