Evacuee Bus Bursts Into Flames

24 Feared Dead As Thousands Of Gulf Coast Residents Flee Hurricane

(CBS/AP)  As Hurricane Rita roared toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts early Friday, a bus carrying 43 elderly evacuees — and their oxygen bottles — from the Houston area caught fire on Interstate 45 near Dallas. As many as 24 people are feared dead.

"We believe there were 43 souls on the bus" when it left the Houston area, Dallas County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Don Peritz told CBS radio station KRLD. "Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus."

"This is a tragic, tragic accident," Peritz added.

Authorities took the unusual step of moving the wreckage and continuing investigating at a remote location so the interstate could reopen for evacuees, Peritz said.

"We got in contact with Homeland Security in Washington, DC. They are very concerned" about the highway backing up, Peritz said.

Rita Friday morning was a major Category 4 storm that spurred a traffic-snarled exodus toward higher ground and fears it could cripple the heart of the nation's petrochemical industry.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Rita was centered about 260 miles southeast of Galveston and was moving to the west-northwest at near 9 mph. Its winds were near 140 mph.

Forecasters said it appeared Houston and Galveston could avoid a direct hit as Rita veered slightly to the east, threatening its 140-mph winds at the Beaumont and Port Arthur area about 75 miles east of Houston.

"I think I'm correct in saying it is the largest evacuation in Texas history," said Gov. Rick Perry.

The unprecedented flight from the flood-prone Houston area left clogged highways at a near standstill, frustrating hundreds of thousands of people whose cars and tempers were overheating.

Houston's airport looked like the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, reports CBS News correspondent Peter King. Thousands without reservations waited for hours to learn they were out of luck.

And Friday morning, Houston officials urged those still in the city to stay put and ride out the storm.

The first rain bands were expected before nightfall Friday with the full fury of Rita expected into Saturday.

"We're going to see a storm surge of 15 to 20 feet and winds of over 100 mph," said CBS News meteorologist George Cullen. "This is a huge storm, so hurricane-force winds extend out almost 80 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend out 200 miles from the center, so we're going to have major impacts all along that Texas Louisiana coastline."

Two communities that may bear the brunt of the storm are Beaumont, which is a petrochemical, shipbuilding and port city of about 114,000; and Port Arthur, a city of about 58,000 that's home to industries including oil, shrimping and crawfishing.

Texas officials scrambled to reroute several inbound highways to accommodate outbound traffic, but many people were waiting so long they ran out of gas and were forced to park.

"We know you're out there," Houston Mayor Bill White said of the congestion that extended well into Louisiana. "We understand there's been fuel shortages."

Texas Army National Guard trucks were escorted by police to directly provide motorists with gasoline. The state was also working to get more than 200,000 gallons of gas to fuel-starved stations in the Houston area.

By Friday morning, the traffic was at least moving slowly, but was still backed up for about 100 miles.

"One of the big problems is the capacity up stream, the fact that people are stopping for gas slowing down things, pulling over to rest, getting something to eat," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurrt Friday on CBS News' The Early Show. "Each time they take action, it has an adverse reaction on the traffic behind them."

Nearly 2 million people along the Texas and Louisiana coasts were urged to get out of the way of Rita, a storm that weakened Thursday from a top-of-the-scale Category 5 hurricane.