Tropical Storm Lee passed near Texas over the weekend, bringing its strong winds to the state, but none of its much-needed rain. The strong gusts fanned some 60 separate wildfires across the drought-stricken region, destroying more than 1,000 homes, forcing more than 5,000 people to evacuate, and killing at least two people. Especially hard-hit has been Bastrop County, about 25 miles from the city of Austin, where a 30,000 acre fire still burns uncontained. Collected here are some of the scenes from around Texas, where residents continue to struggle with a long drought and wildfires that have burned 3.6 million acres since November 2010. See earlier entry Texas Wildfires, from April, 2011.
More Texas Wildfires
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A series of large wildfires head east, approaching Bastrop, Texas, on Highway 71, on September 5, 2011. A roaring wildfire raced unchecked Monday through rain-starved farm and ranchland in Texas, during a rapid advance fanned in part by howling winds from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. #
AP Photo/Erich Schlegel -
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Clarence Hoffman (left) and his son, Allen Hoffman, battle ground flames, trying to prevent the fire from advancing to the home of Patrick McAlister as a wildfire burns out of control near Bastrop, Texas, on September 5, 2011. #
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Firefighters from the Coppell Fire Department watch as an S-64 Skycrane helicopter drops a fire retardant to help contain a wildfire burning through parts of Cedar Creek, Texas, on September 5, 2011. #
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Patrick McAlister tries to douse ground flames with a water hose to combat the advancing flames as a wildfire burns out of control near Bastrop, Texas, on September 5, 2011. #
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Patricia Bloodworth-Neville embraces her daughter Bailey Neville, 12, while watching a wildfire consume land around their home in the Bluebonnet Acres in Bastrop County, Texas, on September 5, 2011. #
AP Photo/The Daily Texan, Trent Lesikar
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