|
Rita claims 2nd victim
26/09/2005 07:42 - (SA)
Houston - A 79-year-old man killed by a tree felled by Hurricane Rita in Texas has become only the second fatality blamed on the huge storm which hit the United States Gulf Coast, authorities said on Sunday.
Johnny Long of Hudson in Angelina county, eastern Texas, was found dead a few hours after the hurricane struck Louisiana and Texas on Saturday, said state officials. He was believed to have suffered a broken neck.
The first known victim was a person killed inside a mobile home in Mississippi that was torn up by a tornado.
Twenty four people died in a bus that caught fire as it was taking elderly nursing home residents away from the Texas coast on Friday. Another woman died of heat exhaustion in a traffic jam during the pre-storm exodus.
Authorities say many people are still missing, especially along the west Louisiana coast, but they are hopeful there will no dramatic rise in the death toll.
- AFP
|
News
