Looters detained in Texas 'Energy City'

As night fell on the stricken town, much of Port Arthur was cut off by waist-high floodwater with no power. Cars lay smashed beneath uprooted trees and the main refinery was out of reach.

Authorities detained nine people for looting and imposed a 4:00pm to 6:00am curfew to prevent a crime escalation, mayor Oscar Ortiz told CNN television.

More than 100 police cars were seen entering the town after the storm amid warnings that troopers would take tough action to stop looting.

The town of 56,000 people near the Texas-Louisiana border took an almost direct hit from the eye of the storm.

"It was pretty scary," said John Harrison, whose wooden home in a poor neighbourhood was surrounded by water and damaged in a night of howling winds and torrential rain.

"I didn't feel that running away would change anything but when the roof of the garage started coming off I thought it was time to go," he said.

"We won't stay next time," said Lynne Greenwell, visibly shaken after riding out the storm in her small apartment, where she heard trees crashing on her neighbour's homes.

Thomas Washington, who lost the roof off his house, said the storm was "worse than I expected."

Though Rita packed maximum winds of 195km (120 miles) an hour, Brandon Allen said: "I expected the storm to be a heck of a lot worse." The 32-year-old real estate agent was one of the few residents on the streets as rescue workers tried to reach isolated homes.

One office building was gutted by fire during the storm as it was out of reach of firefighters. Several other buildings collapsed, leaving furniture, clothes and roofing floating in the floodwater.