A bus loaded with elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught on fire early Friday on gridlocked Interstate 45 near Dallas. The fire killed as many as 20 people, according to Dallas television station WFAA. The bus was in flames, which caused a 17-mile back-up on a freeway that was already jammed with evacuees fleeing the Gulf Coast.
According to AP, Dallas County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Don Peritz said, "There were 45 souls on the bus ... at this point we believe we have about half accounted-for.
"The early indications are this is a mechanical issue. The driver did survive the accident," Peritz said. "It's my understanding he went back on the bus several times to try to evacuate people."
Texans are frustrated as they are stranded in traffic as Rita creeps closer to shore. The National Hurricane Center said the storm is expected to reach the coast late Friday or early Saturday.
If motorists are still stuck in their cars when the storm hits, they could be in a dangerous situation, Ed Rappaport, the hurricane centre's deputy director, said Friday, according to CNN.
At 8 a.m. ET, Rita was centred about 260 miles (418 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas, and 220 miles (354 kilometers) south-southeast of Cameron, Louisiana. It was moving to the northwest at 9 mph (14 kph). Rita's maximum sustained winds are now measured at 140 mph (225 kph).
Over 1.8 million residents of Texas and Louisiana have been ordered to evacuate, with officials urging people not to delay.
“Don’t follow the example of Katrina and wait,” said Harris County Judge Robert Eckels in Houston. “No one will come and get you during the storm.”
Evacuation efforts in Houston have left severe traffic jams in the area, with highways clogged up to 100 miles north of the city.
Police officers were reported carrying gas to motorists who ran out, as gas stations along the evacuation route began running low on fuel.
In an effort to speed the evacuation, Texas Gov. Rick Perry halted all southbound traffic into Houston along Interstate 45, opening all eight lanes to northbound traffic out of the city for 125 miles.
Texas authorities are also planning to airlift about 9,000 nursing home residents and homeless people out of the Houston area.
In Corpus Christi, where evacuation is now voluntary, buses were sent to pick up those with no other transportation.
