Hurricane Rita Comes Ashore as a Category Three, to the Dismay of the Mainstream Media

Bitterly disappointing network television news crews, who had been counting on Rita to provide many deaths and much damage for their broadcasts, Hurricane Rita made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, missing Houston and New Orleans. News organizations, already reeling from the realization that the promised 10,000 Big Easy deaths were not in the offing, had been expecting Rita to strike Galveston and Houston as a Category 5, or at least a strong Category 4.

Newscasters had been optimistic about Rita's chances, especially after fire and explosions on a bus killed 24 elderly people being evacuated. While the newsfolks appreciated the schadenfreude provided by the bus fire, the only video available was of the burned out bus. They were hoping for some better footage of human suffering when Rita came ashore.

From MSNBC:

BEAUMONT, Texas - Hurricane Rita slammed into Texas and Louisiana early Saturday, smashing windows, sparking fires and knocking power out to more than 1 million customers, but largely sparing vulnerable Houston and already reeling New Orleans.

The mainstream media networks are now pinning their hopes on further levee breaches in New Orleans, or possibly some juicy flash flood deaths in Texas as Rita, stalled by weather systems to the north, rains herself out.