Five wildfires ripping across Texas have killed at least two people, with authorities worried about more casualties as a thorough search for victims was yet to be conducted.
Joyce Blankenship, 83, was found dead in her destroyed Hutchinson County home, officials said. On Thursday it was confirmed that a second woman – Cindy Owens – had succumbed to her injuries after getting out of her truck and being severely burned.
A tally of the numerous homes and other structures damaged or destroyed in the fires is not available yet.
The Magenta Fire in Oldham County, which is covering an estimated 3,300 acres, is now 85 per cent contained, according to an update from the Texas A&M Forest Service.
But the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history, is still only 3 per cent contained with no end in sight.
The fire has burned 1,075,000 acres, according to the Forest Service. It is now the second-largest fire in US history, local fire officials said, and more than five times the size of New York City.