At least 5,000 people were forced from their homes in Bastrop County about 25 miles east of Austin, and about 400 were in emergency shelters, officials said.
Strong winds and drought conditions allowed the fire to travel quickly over somewhat hilly terrain, burning through pine and cedar trees and wiping out subdivisions as well as ranchland. The blaze consumed as much as 25,000 acres along a line that stretched for about 16 miles, Texas Forest Service officials said.
Huge clouds of smoke soared into the sky and hung over downtown Bastrop, a town of about 6,000 people along the Colorado River. The fire was far enough away from Austin that the city was not threatened, officials said.
Firefighters lined up on a state highway outside Bastrop and converged around homes as they caught fire, hoping to save them. Helicopters and planes loaded with water could be seen flying to and from the fire. When winds increased, flames would flare up and pop out over the tops of trees.
The wildfire destroyed 476 homes, and about 250 firefighters were working around the clock, using bulldozers and pumper trucks against the fire, Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald said.
Authorities mobilized ground and air forces to fight the largest of at least 63 fires that broke out in Texas since Sunday as high winds from what was then Tropical Storm Lee swept into Texas, which has endured its worst drought since the 1950s.
"It's still putting up a lot of smoke and it's scary," Jan Amen, a Texas Forest Service spokeswoman said.
School and school-related activities were canceled for Tuesday.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, and officials said they knew of no residents trapped in their homes.
On Sunday, however, about 200 miles to the northeast in Gladewater, a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter died when a fast-moving wildfire gutted their mobile home. That fire was out Monday, although several other major blazes continued to burn in at least four other counties in Central and North Texas.
At least two-thirds of the 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park had been consumed, said Mike Cox of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. All nonessential workers were ordered to leave the park.
"All I see is a wall of smoke," Cox said from the park's front gate. The park is home to several historic rock and stone buildings built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and 1940s.