Chaos before the storm Rita

Impact of Rita is felt before landfall as 24 nursing home residents who fled die in bus fire, waters gush in New Orleans, and Texas braces

Hurricane Rita became slightly less powerful but no less fearsome Friday as it bore down on the Gulf Coast, causing death and damage even before Saturday's expected landfall.On a Texas highway jammed with people fleeing the storm, 24 nursing home residents died when their bus was engulfed in flames and explosions.

In New Orleans, still struggling to emerge from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina last month, there was more bad news: Water was gushing over newly patched levees that had been breached during Katrina, and floodwaters again were entering the city. More