Residents of Texas, Louisiana race to escape Rita.(Hurricane Rita, 2005)

Byline: Lolly Bowean, Ofelia Casillas and Bill Glauber

HOUSTON _ Hundreds of thousands of panicky residents across Texas and Louisiana heeded evacuation orders and hit the roads Thursday to flee Hurricane Rita, a still powerful and massive storm that churned through the Gulf of Mexico but started curving slightly northeast of Houston.

While Rita lost some of its force as it headed towards land and was downgraded to a Category 4, the hurricane still packed winds of 135 miles an hour and was projected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday along the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane warnings were posted from Port O'Connor, Texas, to Morgan City, La., as Rita spread fear along the coast and raised the possibility that Louisiana could get slammed with another storm, just weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

"Wherever it makes landfall, it is going to do extensive damage," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.

The highways out of Houston were gridlocked with evacuees Thursday, and Galveston, Texas, was emptied of most of the population. Steve LeBlanc, Galveston's city manager, said 90 percent of the residents fled the island.

"It feels like a ghost town to…