SANTA FE (AP) -- Two teams of volunteer rescue and medical personnel from New Mexico are making their way to Texas to await the arrival of Hurricane Rita.
The storm swirled toward the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as more than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.
With Rita projected to hit Texas by Saturday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged residents along the state's entire coast to begin evacuating. And New Orleans braced for the possibility that the storm could swamp the misery-stricken city all over again.
New Mexico Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team, was scheduled to arrive in Fort Worth on Thursday. Officials said the team will be in position to be rapidly dispatched to where the need is greatest.
The team includes 70 volunteers from fire departments, doctors and nurses, engineers, communication specialists and canine search experts. They are usually deployed to events of mass destruction like hurricanes, earthquakes and acts of terrorism.
The team had just returned from New Orleans.
The New Mexico Disaster Medical Assistance Team has also been activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some members are expected to arrive in Dallas on Thursday.
DMAT spent nearly two weeks in Louisiana following Katrina and treated about 6,000 patients.
Gov. Bill Richardson said earlier this week that New Mexico was asked to prepare to take in as many as 1,000 Katrina refugees who were being evacuated from the Houston area because of the latest hurricane.
Officials in Farmington and Los Lunas rushed to set up shelters Tuesday, but no refugees had been sent to the state as of Wednesday.
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