Texas Briefly

Man killed by tree is first Texas death blamed on Laura

HEMPHILL (AP) — An East Texas man who died when Hurricane Laura threw a a tree onto his home is believed to be the state's first reported death from the storm.

Sabine County Emergency Management Coordinator Kerwin Lloyd identified the man Friday as David Murrell, 54.

Murrell died Thursday when the tree fell on his mobile home at Toledo Bend Reservoir near Hemphill, Lloyd said.

Officials blame Laura for a total of 11 deaths, with the rest counted in Louisiana.

Laura made landfall Thursday near the Texas-Louisiana border and sawed a devastating path as it moved north through Louisiana and later into Arkansas and Tennessee. Hundreds of thousands of people across Louisiana were still without power or water Friday. Mexican army finds unfinished tunnel under Rio Grande river

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican army said Thursday that soldiers patrolling along the Rio Grande river have found an unfinished tunnel that was apparently dug under the river bed in a bid to reach U.S. territory.

Predictably, the tunnel flooded and was found partly full of water. The army said a small pump was found at the mouth of the structure and was apparently used to clear water from it.

Photos distributed by the army showed the builders had tried to shore up the walls of the shaft with timbers that appeared to be buckling.

The army said the tunnel was found earlier this week near the city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. The tunnel was apparently used for illegal activities.

The river, known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo, is a frequent crossing point for drugs and mi grant smuggling.

Woman killed in Austin during fight between Laura evacuees

AUSTIN (AP) — A bystander was shot and killed in Austin after a fight broke out among 60 people who had fled the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Laura, police said Thursday.

Two groups of people who had left Port Arthur and Beaumont on the southeast Texas coast got into a large fight in a downtown Austin street at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, police said. One person opened fire, striking a woman.

Police said the woman was homeless and had not been involved the fight. She was taken an Austin hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m.

Police withheld the woman's identity Thursday and said no arrests had been made. Homicide detectives and crime scene specialists interviewed witnesses and canvassed the scene for video of the shooting.

The Travis County Medical Examiner’s office will conduct the autopsy of the deceased woman, whose identity has not been revealed pending notification to next of kin.

Gov. Greg Abbott credited the evacuations of thousands of people for preventing deaths in Texas.

Laura roared ashore Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane along the Louisiana-Texas border. The storm is being blamed for at least two deaths in Louisiana and widespread damage around the city of Lake Charles.