NEW IBERIA, La. (AP) — As many as 500,000 people in southwestern Louisiana, many of them already displaced by Hurricane Katrina, were told to evacuate Thursday as Hurricane Rita headed for a forecast landfall near the Texas state line.

Mindful of Katrina's rising death toll in Louisiana — 832 as of Thursday morning — Gov. Kathleen Blanco recommended that those who refuse to flee Rita "write their Social Security numbers on their arms with indelible ink."

NOLA.COM