A year later, Rita's wrath lingers

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2006 | by Alan Gomez

CAMERON, La. -- Some recall Hurricane Rita as the storm that just missed Houston. Others vaguely remember it as the one that came after Katrina. The widespread anonymity of Rita has somehow reached the point where people along the Texas-Louisiana border -- the ones whose towns and crops and neighbors were annihilated by Rita's 120-mph winds and 20-foot storm surge -- have given Rita a new name: the Forgotten Hurricane.

"Nobody says anything about Rita. It's all Katrina, Katrina, Katrina," said Paul Martin, 47, whose home in southwestern Louisiana was washed away along with the other 35 homes in his neighborhood. "Hey, we lost everything too." It was one year ago Sunday that Rita roared into the Texas-Louisiana border and devastated a swampy, brackish area dotted by wooden...