Search and Rescue Teams Prepare for Hurricane Rita Response

AUSTIN (AP) -- Federal emergency officials along with search and rescue teams from outside Texas traveled to Houston on Friday, getting ready to respond to damage Hurricane Rita inflicts.

Fourteen search and rescue task forces from different states were part of the group that deployed from San Antonio, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Peter Bakersky said.

The emergency workers were gathering at the Reliant Center in Houston, where they planned to wait to see what their post-storm mission will be, Bakersky said.

FEMA has been planning relief efforts for this hurricane for several days at a field office in Texas, officials said.

Meanwhile, at the state emergency management center in Austin, the focus was shifting to what would be needed after the storm.

''The best way to avoid loss of life is to get people out. We've completed that. The second part is search and rescue,'' said Steve McCraw, the governor's director of homeland security.

Maj. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez, adjutant general of the Texas National Guard, said, ''We're just about set and ... we're ready to turn the switch and move in where needed in response to civil authorities.''

Lt. Gen. Robert Clark, commander of the Texas-based 5th Army, who is leading the joint military task force for Hurricane Rita, said military units were preparing to begin search and rescue operations as soon as conditions allow. He said the military is working with state and local authorities on a synchronized plan.

Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast last month, are being employed with this hurricane, Clark said.

''I think search and rescue will be rapid, responsive and as good as it can get,'' he said. ''That's certainly our intent.''

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Associated Press writer Liz Austin contributed to this report.