MALABAR, Fla. – Brush fires forced residents to flee more than 500 homes in central Florida yesterday and closed a major interstate, authorities said.
A fire in Volusia County has burned between 500 and 600 acres and caused road closures and home evacuations, state Division of Forestry spokesman Timber Weller said. About 400 homes in the neighborhood near Daytona Beach were under a mandatory evacuation order and 200 more homes were under a voluntary order. Weller said windy, dry conditions were challenging the fire crews.
A fire near Cocoa had burned more than 100 acres and forced evacuations of about 100 to 200 homes, Brevard County Fire and Rescue spokesman Orlando Dominguez said. Heavy smoke from another fire in the Brevard community of Malabar forced authorities to close part of Interstate 95, the major East Coast corridor.
Associated Press
Katrina victim state's biggest prize winner
BATON ROUGE, La. – A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won with a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.
When he turned in the winning ticket, Carl Hunter became the largest Powerball winner in Louisiana's history. He won the jackpot in January, but the 73-year-old small-businessman wanted to wrap up some of his construction work and finish his outstanding contracts, so he waited nearly four months to claim the prize.
An avid lottery player, Hunter said Thursday that he already had bought a Powerball ticket Jan. 16 at the gas station less than two blocks from his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. But he stopped at the station again that day to buy milk – at the request of his wife, Dianne – and got a second “quick pick” ticket. Hunter took a lump sum payment that will give him $33.9 million after taxes, according to lottery officials. The couple said plans include retirement and the rebuilding of a camp lost to Katrina.
Associated Press
Medical helicopter crashes, killing three
MADISON, Wis. – A medical helicopter dropped off a patient and then crashed shortly after it took off on its return flight to Madison, killing the surgeon, nurse and pilot on board, officials said yesterday.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital Med Flight crew went down about three miles from the La Crosse airport, from which they departed late Saturday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said in a statement. The wreckage was found early yesterday, and preliminary reports indicate the the American Eurocopter EC13 may have struck a hill or some trees, said Margaret Van Bree, the hospital's chief operating officer.
Killed were surgeon Darren Bean; nurse Mark Coyne, 53; and pilot Steve Lipperer, 39, she said. All three lived in Madison.
Associated Press
