As hundreds of thousands of remaining residents of south Texas and southwestern Louisiana fled their homes late Friday night, a Florida-based provider of business e-mail security solutions is offering companies in the path of Hurricane Rita a free service to protect and preserve e-mail traffic should their servers be affected by the impact of the storm.

"In the digital age, lost e-mail can mean lost customers, lost revenue and lost opportunities," said Michael Murdoch, CEO of AppRiver. "We have seen the effects of lost e-mail by businesses in our community and want to offer protection to other companies that may be especially vulnerable to the effects of Rita."

Murdoch said that AppRiver will hold a copy of all incoming e-mail until the storm has passed and the company's own e-mail servers are functioning. This limited service is available to businesses that have an Internet domain name.

To access the free service, businesses need only visit AppRiver's website, www.appriver.com , and click the button marked "Free Emergency Email Protection" at the top of the screen. Users will be guided through a simple process from that point.

NOAA Latest:

000
WTNT33 KNHC 240250
TCPAT3
BULLETIN
HURRICANE RITA ADVISORY NUMBER  26
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
10 PM CDT FRI SEP 23 2005

...EYE OF MAJOR HURRICANE RITA JUST A FEW HOURS FROM LANDFALL NEAR
THE TEXAS/LOUISIANA BORDER...
...STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS BATTERING SOUTHERN LOUISIANA AND
SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS...

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SARGENT TEXAS TO MORGAN
CITY LOUISIANA.  A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24
HOURS.  PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD HAVE
ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN
COAST OF LOUISIANA EAST OF MORGAN CITY TO THE MOUTH OF THE PEARL
RIVER... INCLUDING METROPOLITAN NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE
PONTCHARTRAIN... AND FROM SOUTH OF SARGENT TEXAS TO PORT ARANSAS
TEXAS.  A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24
HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

• Hurricane Rita & Wireless: Cingular Readies Its Network, Recommends Texting