An anonymous reader from a major weather-related federal agency writes:

wrong, wrong, wrong!! Hurricane do not follow warm currents – they are steered by the overall atmospheric wind patterns. They survive by being near the warm water currents but the currents don’t steer them. Hurricanes need warm water to form & then intensify their strength; along with no atmospheric vertical wind shear to tear them apart.
Rita is moving west now because there is a ridge of high pressure along the Gulf
coast (clockwise circulation) so the steering winds are from the east. It’s getting stronger because it’s moving into the warmest waters of the gulf. The waters are cooler close to texas so it’s like to weaken some approaching land,
but the cooler water won’t change the path.