Officials: 1,000 Texas homes burned in past week... 852 Homes Lost in Last 48 Hours

[RedEarth]

Source: AP

More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across rain-starved Texas, most of them in one devastating blaze near Austin that is still raging out of control, officials said Tuesday.

Gov. Rick Perry, who cut short a presidential campaign trip to South Carolina on Monday to return to help oversee firefighting efforts in Texas, toured a blackened area near Bastrop, about 25 miles from Austin, where a fast-moving blaze destroyed nearly 600 homes on Monday.

More than 100,000 acres in the drought-stricken state had burned over the past week, and that more than 3.5 million acres - an area roughly the size of Connecticut - had burned since December.



Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110906/D9PJ7UPG0.html

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852 Homes Lost in 48 Hours

In the last 48 hours, 852 homes have been consumed in the flames of Texas wildfires as dozens of blazes continue to sear the drought-plagued state, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Officials say more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed and over 115,000 acres have burned in the past seven days.

The largest wildfire is raging just east of Austin and has burned at least 600 homes and blackened 30,000 acres

http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-wildfires-852-homes-lost-48-hours/story?id=14454307

[Lint Head]

1. Why is Rick Perry not saying God hates these 1000 homes because he didn't

answers his prayers?

[winstars]

2. How is that praying for rain thing working out... NT

I am truly so for all of those poor people who have lost their homes, and I ain't sure what the Gov could should do, but the praying is apparently not working so good...

[Warpy]

12. Neither is electing a sanctimonious dimwit who fronts for the oil boys

Maybe if enough churches burn down the preachers will catch a clue and stop supporting these corrupt SOBs.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Looks like Perry showed those volunteer firemen who the boss is

[SpiralHawk]

4. Perry & his RepubliCronies totally SLASHED support for firefighters

and this is the result.

RepubliWankers want to do the same to all of the USA. Twisted.

[TheMadMonk]

14. Actaully no. This is the result of climate change. The fruits of budget...

...slashing will come over the next few years as equipment wears out and isn't replaced.

[Webster Green]

5. He's returning to do what? Cut more funds for firefighting?

Say some more prayers?

Praise the Lord! :puke:

[hobbit709]

6. "to help oversee firefighting efforts in Texas"

He's as qualified to do that as he is to do anything that requires effort and brains.

ZERO EQUALS ZERO.

[roguevalley]

7. I don't give a damn about Perry. I am terribly sorry for the 1000

families made desitute and all the animals that can't outrun a fire. Everywhere you go after a fire you see dead and deeply wounded animals and birds. It is an agony. Concentrate on that. Perry is just a damned asshat and not worth the energy.

[hamsterjill]

10. +1

All of us from Texas that read DU "get" that Rick Perry is the worst thing that could possibly happen to the Presidency. We didn't want him as Governor and we've been stuck with him for an eternity.

We all realize that he returned to Texas not because he gives a shit about the ordinary people affected by these fires, but because it looks good for him to say he dropped what he was going and returned.

Perry is all for show.

That said - people are hurting down here, and hurting badly. I am a Democrat partly because of the fact that most Democrats have greater compassion for their fellow living creatures than Repukes do.

Thank you all for remembering that Texas is NOT just Rick Perry.

[Sancho]

8. A question that I'd ask Perry at the debate:

Gov. Perry, your state is on fire after record heat waves caused by global warming. Your coastline runs along an oil polluted gulf.
Your have announced that the way to promote jobs is to get rid of EPA regulations.

My question for you:

ARE YOU NUTS?????



:crazy:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. So far there are four confirmed fatalities.

The mother and her infant from yesterday and two more people discovered today and yet to be identified in the Bastrop Complex fire.

[Bucky]

11. *Now* tell me how humans don't cause global warming!

[JDPriestly]

13. Global warming.

One of the effects predicted by environmental scientists is increasing and extreme droughts/floods -- extremes in weather -- and of course wildfires will result where droughts occur.