Let's hope not, but I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Katrina became a Cat 1 just before coming ashore south of Ft. Lauderdale, stayed a Cat 1 during her entire trek across Miami-Dade, and dropped briefly back to a TS over extreme western Monroe County. As soon as she entered the gulf, she was back to Cat 1, and just kept intensifying after that. Rita is now a Cat 1 and hasn't yet reached where Katrina entered the gulf.
All the discussion I have read so far indicates forecasters do not expect the kind of strengthening Katrina went through. Apparently she stirred up cooler water so the fuel will not be there.
Rita also hoovered a lot of the heat out of the Gulf. As a result, SSTs are not as high as when Rita was bombing out.
However, IMO the difference will not keep Rita from being a very problematic storm - IMO Rita will probably reach peak intensity as a low Cat 4 and make landfall as a Cat 3 - and have a long fetch with which to push surge at wherever she makes landfall.
But that's just my guess.