Hurricane Dolly (2008) were destroyed with hundreds more damaged, and the storm surge caused many boats to be brought onshore, some into homes. The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, declared 14 counties in South Texas a disaster area. Insured property damage estimates are near $525 million (2008 USD) with total property damage estimates (based on a 2–1 ratio of total damage to insured damage) near $1.3 billion (2008 USD) in the state (with a large proportion of the losses being agricultural), and the Rio Grande cotton crop was expected to be a complete loss. After weakening to a tropical storm, Dolly spun off
Bertha Vyver Bertha Vyver Bertha Vyver (11 June 1854 – 20 November 1941) was a caretaker for Scottish poet Charles Mackay and the companion of Marie Corelli. From 1875 until his death in 1889, Vyver kept house and nursed Mackay, later caring for her own mother prior to her death. Relieved of her nursing duties, Vyver remained with Corelli encouraging and facilitating her writing career. When Corelli died, Vyver became executor of her literary estate and wrote a biography of the author. Bertha Amelia Adriana Francisca van der Vyver was born on 11 June 1854 as one of three daughters born to