Millions who fled Rita told to halt return
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-25 11:54

The region was largely evacuated ahead of Rita, but some residents stayed behind and were rescued by helicopter. Among them were a pregnant woman and her 4-year-old son stranded in Port Lafourche, a Gulf Coast outpost about 60 miles south of New Orleans.

"Most of the town was already under water from Katrina," said Coast Guard Lt. Roberto Torres, the pilot who airlifted the woman out. "And what wasn't got flooded by Rita."

About 500 people were rescued from high waters south of New Orleans, some by helicopters. Another 15 to 25 people were reported stranded farther west along the shoreline of Vermilion Parish, but searches were postponed until Sunday because of high winds.

Elsewhere, a portion of Interstate 10 over the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles was closed after barges broke loose from their moorings and slammed into the bridge.

New Orleans, devastated by Katrina barely three weeks ago, endured a second straight day of new flooding that could seriously disrupt recovery plans. The Army Corps of Engineers said it would need at least two weeks to pump water from the most heavily flooded neighborhoods — notably the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward — after crews plug a series of levee breaches.