Texas governor Rick Perry left the presidential campaign trail to return to his wildfire-ravaged state where flames destroyed homes and officials have warned of a "catastrophic" situation.
The fires burned down hundreds of houses after being fanned by dry winds spawned by a tropical depression which hit the southern US at the weekend, exacerbating an already severe drought in Central Texas this summer.
"There will be more flare-ups with the cool air," said a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service (TFS), referring to weather forecasts for later this week.
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"It has a very negative impact," on emergency efforts, she said of the predicted drop in temperatures.
Over the weekend, the TFS responded to 63 new fires that have burned approximately 32,936 acres, including new fires in Bastrop, Travis, Henderson, Limestone, Caldwell and Colorado counties, according to local officials.
Perry, who had been campaigning in South Carolina ahead of a major debate on Wednesday night among Republican candidates seeking the 2012 nomination, flew home as television pictures showed smoke and flames engulfing the state.
"We will pick up the pieces, we will rebuild," he told reporters shortly after arriving back in Texas, having earlier described the wildfire situation as "severe," and pledged resources to protect lives and property.
"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," the governor added in a statement on his website.
Mark Stanford, the TFS fire chief, described the fires as "catastrophic."
"It's a major natural disaster," he told The Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
In East Texas, a fast-moving fire is believed to have killed a 20-year-old woman and her child who couldn't get out of their trailer home fast enough.
Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano told reporters the victims were found dead near Gladewater, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east of Fort Worth.
Officials have ruled out arson as the cause of the fires, with blame instead being attributed to Tropical Depression Lee, which was graded as a more serious tropical storm when it came ashore in southern Louisiana early Sunday.
Since the beginning of the wildfire season, Texas firefighters have dealt with over 20,900 fires that have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and burned 3.6 million acres, according to local and state officials.
