With well over 1,000 homes burned in the drought sun-scorched Texas, residents near the Austin area can only wait and hope their home wasn't one of them Tuesday.
Now CBS is reporting that over 57 wildfires are taking over the state, officials said Tuesday.
Victoria Koenig said there is no way to say how much progress was made fighting the wildfire in Bastrop County overnight. Currently, the agency says the fire has grown to 30,000 acres.
"It's encouraging we don't have winds right now, not like yesterday," Koenig, Texas Forest Service spokeswoman said early Tuesday.
Koenig said it was a "tough, tough fire" that was raging through rugged terrain, including a ridge of hills, even though the winds aren't as strong as Monday.
"You can still see the hills glowing quite a bit," she said.
5,000 people have left their homes in Bastrop County
400 are in emergency shelters
Schools canceled in the area
UPDATE: Because of the fact that there's been no significant rainfall over central Texas for a year, said CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds, and today the consequences of that are being seen in Bastrop and other areas, and there is none in the future to look forward to, residents have no choice but to abandon their homes and wait it out.
It's being reported by CBS News that since December, wildfires have burned down 3.6 million acres of Texas - an area the size of the state of Connecticut.
This may be the worst wildfire of all time because of the Texas drought and Hurricane Lee winds.
UPDATE: Rick Perry chose to back out of the debates in South Carolina on Monday to attend to the chaos in his state of Texas where 60 wildfires have broke loose with the assistance of winds from Tropical Storm Lee.
Over four hundred homes have been destroyed and at least two individuals are dead from the disaster, according to authorities.
"I'm still seeing no containment," said April Saginor, information officer for the Texas Forest Service. She said more than 25,000 acres have burned with 476 residences lost so far, as reported by Reuters.
In reference to the homes destroyed, "That's a record in Texas for a single fire," she said.
More than 250 firefighters are on the scene which stretches 16 by six miles, says Ms. Saginor.
Perry issued this warning, "I urge Texans to take extreme caution as we continue to see the devastating effects of sweeping wildfires impacting both rural and urban areas of the state.
With around 70,000 people in the area, Bastrop County is the worst hit, as reported by local officials.
The two deceased include a 20-year old mom and her 18-month old baby girl who were unable to escape the flames that ravaged their mobile home in Gregg County, in northeast Texas.
