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20 die as 2 million flee Rita
23/09/2005 15:18 - (SA)
Dallas -A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire early on Friday on gridlocked Interstate 45, killing or injuring an unknown number of passengers, authorities said.
The bus was engulfed with flames, causing a 27km backup on a highway that was already heavily congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast.
Dallas television station WFAA reported 20 persons were killed.
Dallas County sheriff's spokesman sergeant Don Peritz said: "There were 45 people 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," said Peritz.
"It's my understanding he went back on the bus several times to try to evacuate people."
He said there were indications that oxygen used by elderly evacuees could have had a role in the fire.
Two million on the move
A large, burned-out shell of the bus was to the side of the interstate, surrounded by numerous police cars and ambulances.
Meanwhil, it is reported from Houston that about two million people in the southern United States were fleeing Hurricane Rita on Friday as the storm - the third most-intense on record - bore down on the heart of US oil production.
The mass evacuation choked northbound routes leading from Louisiana and Texas, with many motorists running out of fuel.
Panic buying emptied filling stations and fuel-delivery trucks were unable to make their way through the traffic jams.
Many people had to spend the night along the road on their northward trek around and out of the Texas city of Houston - the country's fourth-largest metropolis.
Officials had opened all eight lanes of a major highway artery to outbound traffic, but still the situation remained chaotic with up to 15 hours required to travel just 20km and some people having heatstroke in their vehicles because of the high temperatures.
Houston mayor Bill White called on residents who had not yet left their homes to stay where they were, said news reports on Friday, adding that it was now too late to consider evacuation.
Media reports said some Houston residents had abandoned the attempt to evacuate and returned to their homes.
Winds of 225km/h
Rita was about 466km southeast of the island town of Galveston, Texas, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), and moving northwest at about km/h. It was expected to make landfall in Texas early on Saturday.
The storm, a Category 4 on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, was bringing maximum winds of 225km/h with the possibility of stronger gusts.
Tides were already riding about 60cm above normal early on Friday along the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts.
President George Bush - chastened by the disastrously slow federal reaction to Katrina - was to fly to Texas on Friday to personally inspect preparations by military and national guard troops for the onslaught.
- Sapa/AP/dpa
- SAPA
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