HOUSTON -- Fires have been reported around the Houston area and in Galveston, Texas overnight, as Hurricane Rita made landfall nearly 100 miles away.

In Pasadena, east of downtown Houston, fire destroyed a portion of a strip mall. Firefighters were able to get to the scene.

Several buildings in Galveston's historic Strand District were heavily damaged by fire. One of them was built 100 years ago, just five years after the hurricane that destroyed most of the city and killed thousands.

And fires damaged units at a Houston apartment complex.

One person escaped the fire in Galveston. Hospital officials aren't yet commenting on the person's condition.

An emergency management official says nearly 600,000 homes and businesses are without power in Houston, the nation's
fourth-largest city.

Still, damage is described as "minimal,'' and appears mostly to
involve downed tree limbs and power lines.

National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield says it looks like Houston and Galveston ''really lucked out.'' Even so, Houston Mayor Bill White is asking residents who evacuated not to return yet. He says more needs to be known about the extent of the damage, and the availability of gasoline for drivers.

Hurricane Rita damage
-- Windows blew out in the lobby of the nine-story Elegante Hotel in Beaumont. Strong winds brought down a chandelier and ripped the roof off another section of lobby.
-- Three buildings caught fire in Galveston's historic Strand District, with one nearly destroyed.
-- The Galveston County Daily News reports its main facility lost part of its roof.
-- The Sabine County sheriff's department in Hemphill reports a
school gymnasium suffered wind damage and ended up with a gap in the roof.
-- In Tyler County, the police department in Woodville lost its roof. Warren Junior High School in Warren also has roof damage.
-- Nobody was hurt today in a fire at a two-story apartment building in southeast Houston. Officials say at least eight units were damaged.
-- In Pasadena, fire broke out before dawn at a shopping complex. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the blaze
at a Dollar General store.
-- In Jasper County, a house with seven people reported inside
floated off its foundation in floodwaters in Kirbyville. A sheriff's dispatcher said rescue personnel were stuck in the emergency operations center due to flooding.

Beaumont damage

BEAUMONT, Texas -- The few people who stayed behind in
Beaumont, Texas, are now able to see the damage caused by Hurricane Rita.

As they look outside, they can see ripped-off roofs, blown-out
windows, torn-up trees and twisted signs. And they'll see water.

A sheriff's spokeswoman says a house north of Beaumont floated off its foundation.

Shards of glass and pieces of trees are strewn throughout the
flooded lobby of a Beaumont hotel. One worker says employees stayed in a stairwell most of the time.

A guest there called it "a nightmare.'' She's a refugee from
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and says she hopes "this is the end.''

As the storm raged, the torches of oil refineries could still be
seen burning in the distance. Officials have been worried about the storm's threat to those facilities and to chemical plants along the Texas and Louisiana coast.