Two people have died due to the fires ravaging the state of Texas, according to a report updated Friday March 1.
In addition to an 83-year-old woman who died in a house fire in the small town of Stinnett, a 44-year-old woman died on Thursday, February 29, after being seriously injured when the truck she was driving was surrounded by the flames in Smokehouse Creek, according to an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety, cited Friday by several local media.
The latest report from the Texas Forestry Office shows 509,800 hectares gone up in smoke in all the fires, eleven of which have already been contained (they are burning but not advancing) and a dozen brought under control. Five fires remain “active” in the northern part of the state. The largest outbreak, at Smokehouse Creek, which had already ravaged some 435,000 hectares as of Thursday, is only “5%” contained and now affects part of neighboring Oklahoma.
The El Niño phenomenon blamed
Officials at the Turkey Track Ranch in the area said they lost 80 percent of their 32,000-acre property. “We believe the loss of livestock, crops and wildlife, as well as other infrastructure on our property, and at other ranches and homes in the area, is unprecedented in our history,” they said. said in a statement, cited by ABC News.
Firefighters fear that the situation will worsen over the weekend due to expected winds, in a hot and dry climate. According to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, the fire is moving at a speed of two football fields per second. American President Joe Biden, on an election visit to Texas on the subject of immigration, told the press that five hundred federal officials were mobilized to fight the fires, in addition to local firefighters.
Several cities in the United States and Canada experienced unprecedented temperatures in February, some even experiencing summer heat. According to experts, the El Niño phenomenon is to blame, in addition to climate change. “I like some of my Neanderthal friends who still think there is no climate change,” Mr. Biden quipped, referring to his climate-skeptical Republican opponents.
