WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government rushed hospital beds, rescue teams and evacuation buses to Texas on Wednesday in an urgent effort to brace for Hurricane Rita and prevent a replay of the missteps from Katrina.
President Bush, pledging to be ''ready for the worst,'' declared a state of emergency in Texas and Louisiana. He pleaded with people to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued in New Orleans and Galveston, Texas.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent nearly 1,200 medical and rescue personnel into Texas as Rita grew to a Category 5 storm _ the highest level _ in its sweep across the Gulf of Mexico.
The agency asked the Pentagon to send 2,500 hospital beds to potential disaster zones in Louisiana and Texas, and was directing 200 buses to Texas to move residents out of harm's way.
Representatives from at least 19 state and federal agencies discussed concerns during conference calls throughout the day.
Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said the calls are used to ''ask for clarification, or perhaps alternate scenarios or interpretations. We speak the some of the same language but want to make sure everybody's on the same page.''
It was clear that the Bush administration wanted to act quickly to get supplies and reinforcements into the region.
''We want to make sure we're ready,'' FEMA's acting director, R. David Paulison, told reporters in Washington. ''We'd rather preposition more assets than we need than not have enough.''
Officials said rescue teams and supplies already in Louisiana to deal with Katrina would remain to respond to Rita.
''I urge the citizens to listen carefully to the instructions provided by state and local authorities and follow them,'' President Bush said in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. ''We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm, but we got to be ready for the worst.''
Coast Guard Adm. Larry Hereth was overseeing the federal preparedness and response efforts in the region. The military was expected to take an expanded role in this hurricane.
In a sign of how the Pentagon was trying to move quickly, Lt. Gen. Robert Clark, commander of the Texas-based 5th Army, was told to be prepared to assume control of a joint military task force for Hurricane Rita, 5th Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Jane Crichton said Wednesday.
In Katrina's case, the military's commander was not designated until after the storm struck.
The Pentagon prepared to send five communications teams and 20 active-duty helicopters, some to transport rescue teams, Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek said. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has activated some 5,000 National Guard troops.
Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said an additional 1,300 National Guardsmen from Texas are returning from Louisiana. He said some active duty troops are involved in preparations.
Naval bases in southern Texas are being evacuated. Several military ships stationed in the region after Katrina's impact are being repositioned so they can help after Rita strikes.
In New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers began closing two damaged canals near Lake Pontchartrain with steel sheet piling to prevent a replay of the flooding that devastated the city in Katrina's wake. Additionally, more than 800 filled sandbags were prepared, and an additional 2,500 were ordered.
Other efforts to prepare for Rita included:
_Readying to ship medical supplies from the National Strategic Stockpile. That includes antibiotics to fight off infections and medications for chronic diseases. The Health and Human Services Department had medical staff set to head out along with Band-Aids, blankets, sterile gloves, portable oxygen tanks an other supplies.
_The Energy Department put its four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites on the Gulf Coast on alert and was ready to consider additional requests for loans of oil should Texas refineries need crude. Two of the four sites are on the Texas coast northeast and southwest of Galveston where the storm was expected to slam into the mainland. The other two are in Louisiana. The underground caverns hold nearly 700 million barrels of oil.
_The American Red Cross worked to line up volunteers and food and helping to move people out of Rita's path, spokeswoman Carrie Martin said. The charity was preparing to serve 750,000 meals a day to Rita's victims.
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Associated Press Writers Lolita C. Baldor, Robert Burns, Pauline Jelinek, Jennifer Loven, H. Josef Hebert, Terence Hunt and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
