Federal emergency teams were waiting in Houston Saturday to begin surveying storm damage from the air as soon as Hurricane Rita's winds subside enough.

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More than 700 federal search and rescue personnel from various states spent the night monitoring storm developments. Once Rita hit the coast, the teams spent this morning awaiting assignments to move into East Texas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency teams are stocked with truckloads of water, ready-to-eat meals, medical supplies and fuel.

Early assessments point to potential problem areas. Those include:
Low-lying areas east of Lake Charles, Louisiana
A Bridge City electrical power plant
An impassable Port Arthur highway
Possible floating petrochemical tanks and damaged above-ground pipelines
Oil wells in Orange
Residential areas of Jasper, Texas, and in Sulphur, La

The U.S. Homeland Security Department says localized flooding is expected to be the biggest challenge. Homeland Security spokesman Peter Pakersky says task forces are hauling trucks, boats and wavecraft into the area.

Rita avoided the most populous areas of the Gulf Coast, but is leaving widespread damage in its path.

More than 675,000 CenterPoint Energy customers were without power from Galveston into Houston north to Humble, company spokeswoman Stacey Williams said. Entergy spokesman David Caplan said about 55,000 Texas customers were without electricity.

In Jasper County north of Beaumont, a house with seven people inside came off its foundation and floated in floodwaters, said sheriff's communications supervisor Alice Duckworth. She said there were calls of trees on houses, houses burning, and churches and mobile homes coming apart.

In Galveston's historic Strand District, fire destroyed a bail bonds company, a former fraternal club that's now an art gallery, and a Victorian house. The main facility of The Galveston County
Daily News lost part of its roof. The wall of a restaurant collapsed.

In Spring, east of Interstate 45, a tree hit a power line and struck a roof, setting a house ablaze.

In Beaumont, windows were blown out in the lobby of the Elegante Hotel.

Streets around the city of Beaumont are littered with downed power lines, snapped trees and broken light poles. Storefront windows have been blown out, including one beauty shop that lost
all of its windows.

In Angelina County, power lines and trees are down. The sheriff's office is without power and is running on a generator. Also, the Diboll Police Department's roof was torn off.

In Tyler County, power outages were widespread. High winds ripped roofs off several buildings, including the police department

in Woodville, the sheriff's department said. The junior high school in Warren also lost its roof.

In Sabine County, strong winds tore a hole in a high school gym roof. There were no reports of injuries, authorities said.

In Jefferson County, which includes Sabine Pass, there were reports of downed power lines and broken windows.

A predawn fire in a two-story apartment building in southeast Houston left at least eight units damaged, authorities said. Nobody was hurt, according to District Chief Jack Williams.

In Pasadena, fire broke out before dawn at a shopping complex. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

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