Hurricane Rita is now a top-of-the-scale Category 5 storm, packing winds of 165 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm could pound Texas and bring more misery to New Orleans by the end of the week. One million people along the Gulf Coast have been ordered to move to higher ground. Forecasters expect Rita to come ashore Saturday along the central Texas coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi. But if it makes even a slight turn to the right, it could again deal a devastating blow to New Orleans.

Hurricane Rita strengthened into a Category 4 storm packing 140 mph winds Wednesday after lashing the Florida Keys.

The computer models have come into agreement Wednesday, showing the storm making landfall in Texas.

"If it makes landfall there (Texas) as a strong Category 4 or even Category 5 storm, it is going to be devastation for that area just like we've seen already this hurricane season," Local 6 meteorologist Tom Sorrells said. "This could become the worst storm to ever hit Texas if it does what I think it may do."

At 5 p.m., the center of Hurricane Rita was located near latitude 24.4 north, longitude 86.8 west or or about 600 miles east-southeast of Galveston and about 700 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles.

Central Florida

Scattered showers are expected to continue in parts of Central Florida through Thursday.

"If you live in Orlando or Sanford, maybe as far as Ocala, you may see a passing shower," Mowry said.

The weekend forecast looks clear for Orlando and most of Central Florida.

Evacuations Begin

Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated and as many as 1 million others were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

Galveston, parts of Houston and New Orleans were under mandatory evacuation orders, one day after Rita sideswiped the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm and caused minor damage.

Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did just three weeks ago, many people decided not to take any chances.

"After this killer in New Orleans, Katrina, I just cannot fathom staying," 59-year-old Ldyyan Jean Jocque said before sunrise as she waited for an evacuation bus outside the Galveston Community Center. She had packed her Bible, some music and clothes into plastic bags and loaded her dog into a pet carrier.

The federal government was eager to show it, too, had learned its lesson after being criticized for its sluggish response to Katrina. It rushed hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals to the Gulf Coast and put rescue and medical teams on standby.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged residents in the threatened areas to get out.

"You can't play around with this storm," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." He added: "The lesson is that when the storm hits, the best place to be is to be out of the path of the storm."

Galveston County, population 267,000, was ordered evacuated, along with low-lying, flood-prone areas of Houston, which at its lowest point is 6 feet above sea level. As many as 1 million people in the Houston-Galveston area were under orders to get out by daybreak Thursday, said Frank Michel, spokesman for Houston Mayor Bill White. Houston, Texas' biggest city, is about 50 miles northwest of Galveston.

Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, making this the fourth-busiest season since record-keeping started in 1851.

The record is 21 tropical storms in 1933. Six hurricanes have hit Florida in the last 13 months.

The hurricane season started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

Watch Tom Sorrells, Larry Mowry and Michele Cimino for more on this story.