 Hurricane Dolly hits Texas, Mexico coast
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-24 07:36
Hurricane Dolly strengthened early yesterday local time as its leading edge lashed the Gulf Coast near the Texas-Mexico border with heavy rain and powerful winds. The center of the Category 1 hurricane was expected to make landfall later yesterday and dump up to 38 cm of rain, threatening flooding that could breach levees in the heavily populated area of the Rio Grande valley. Dolly, upgraded from a tropical storm on Tuesday, had sustained winds of 53 kph, just short of becoming a Category 2 storm. At 9 am EDT (1300 GMT) yesterday, the storm's center was about 64 km east of Brownsville in south Texas, moving northwest at about 13 kph. A hurricane warning was in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and in Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward. Utility company AEP Texas reported power outages to more than 9,200 customers in Cameron County. The causeway linking South Padre Island to the mainland remained closed early yesterday. Dan Quandt, a spokesman for the town's emergency operations, said winds were picking up to around 80 kph and were expected to increase later yesterday morning. In Mexico, Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez said officials planned to evacuate 23,000 people to government shelters in Matamoros, Soto La Marina and San Fernando. The US Census Bureau said that based on Dolly's projected path, about 1.5 million Texans could feel the storm's effects. At least 2,000 were believed to be in shelters. Agencies (China Daily 07/24/2008 page12) |
