The state of Texas sustained around $8 billion in damages from Hurricane Rita but oil refineries were mostly spared and could resume production soon, Texas Governor Rick Perry said on Sunday. "It appears the refining industry, the oil and gas industry (suffered) a glancing blow at worst. Hopefully they'll be back in production very soon," Perry said during an interview with CNN's "Late Edition"carried by Reuters. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, interviewed on the same program, said electricity has been interrupted in a large part of Louisiana, which already had been reeling from the Aug. 29 impact of Hurricane Katrina. In an area west of New Orleans and south of Interstate 10, where Allen said more than 1.4 million people live, "a good deal of those folks have been disrupted now without power." Rita cut power to more than 2 million people in Texas and Louisiana and utility companies said it could take a month to fully restore electricity in the stricken region. Perry said he expected the federal government to "pay fully the cost" of damages to buildings and other structures. In a separate interview with the "Fox News Sunday" program, Perry said one gas pipeline was ruptured, "but it's being repaired as we speak." He did not provide details. Oil platforms off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be "in relatively good shape also," Perry said. Even though the storm has passed, Perry said evacuees from 10 southeastern Texas counties should "stay put" and not return until water and sewage systems were checked out. --SP 0008 Local Time 2108 GMT
