From: Lowen Vaz <lowenv@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:51 PM
Subject: Hello Dolly this is kent dolly
To: Shivayoga Yahoo Groups <Shivayoga@yahoogroups.com>
Hurricane Dolly front edge hits Texas-Mexico coast
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer 36 minutes ago
BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Hurricane Dolly's leading edge blew down signs, damaged an apartment complex and knocked out electricity to thousands as it hit the Gulf Coast on either side of the Texas-Mexico border early Wednesday.
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Dolly gained strength as the center of the Category 1 hurricane neared landfall, expected around midday. Forecasters warned of up to 15 inches of rain that could produce flooding and breach levees in the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.
Dolly had sustained winds of 95 mph, just short of becoming a Category 2 hurricane. At 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm's center was about 40 miles east of Brownsville, moving northwest at about 8 mph.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and in Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward.
In Mexico, fields were filling with water, palm trees were bent over in the wind and beaches were closed to the public.
"I don't know if my poor house will withstand the rain and wind," said 102-year-old Maria Miguel Selso as she fled her wooden shack in the fishing community of Higuerilla late Tuesday. Selso left with seven family members, including her great-grandchildren, to spend the night at a convention center-turned-shelter in Matamoros.
On Texas' South Padre Island, an apartment complex roof partially collapsed early Wednesday, though the extent of the damage wasn't immediately clear. Residents said they didn't believe anybody was injured, but there was no immediate information available from officials.
The causeway linking the island to the mainland remained closed early Wednesday.
Dan Quandt, a spokesman for South Padre Island emergency operations, said winds were picking up to around 50 mph and were expected to increase later Wednesday morning. He said there was a steady rain falling, but no reports of flooding. A sign on a hotel blew off, but no one was injured and it did not pose a hazard, he said.
Power was knocked out to more than 13,000 customers in Cameron County, where Brownsville is located, utility company AEP Texas said.
In Brownsville, palm trees leaned and small debris was strewn across the all-but empty streets. The windows and doors of shops were boarded up with plywood and most businesses — including gas stations — were closed. At one gas station, workers were pelted by horizontal rain as they scrambled to lock pumps and close down.
A tornado watch was in effect for several counties in the area until 10 a.m. CDT Wednesday.
Cities and counties in the Rio Grande valley were preparing as officials feared heavy rains could cause massive flooding and levee breaks.
Texas officials urged residents to move away from the Rio Grande levees because if Dolly continues to follow the same path as 1967's Hurricane Beulah, "the levees are not going to hold that much water," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.
Charles Hoskins, deputy emergency management officer for Cameron County, said there were nearly 2,000 people in six shelters in the county late Tuesday.
In Hidalgo County, a little bit farther inland, six shelters holding about 900 people were open, said Cari Lambrecht, a county spokeswoman. She said people living in low-lying areas were encouraged to come to shelters.
"It's so much easier for them to go now instead of us having to pull them out later," she said.
In Mexico, Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez said officials planned to evacuate 23,000 people to government shelters in Matamoros, Soto La Marina and San Fernando.
The U.S. Census Bureau said that based on Dolly's projected path, about 1.5 million Texans could feel the storm's effects.
Tropical storm warnings were issued for areas adjacent to the hurricane zone and Gov. Rick Perry declared 14 south Texas counties disaster areas, allowing state resources to be used to send equipment and emergency workers to areas in the storm's path.
The storm, combined with levees that have deteriorated in the 41 years since Beulah swept up the Rio Grande, pose a major flooding threat to low-lying counties along the border. Beulah spawned more than 100 tornadoes across Texas and dumped 36 inches of rain in some parts of south Texas, killing 58 people and causing more than $1 billion damage.
"We could have a triple-decker problem here," Cavazos told a meeting of more than 100 county and local officials Tuesday. "We believe that those (levees) will be breached if it continues on the same track. So please stay away from those levees."
Around Brownsville, levees protect the historic downtown as well as preserved buildings that were formerly part of Fort Brown on the University of Texas at Brownsville campus. Outside the city, agricultural land dominates the banks of the Rio Grande, but thousands of people live in low-lying colonias, often poor subdivisions built without water and sewer utilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement was evacuating its Port Isabel Detention Center, said spokeswoman Nina Pruneda. Fewer than 1,000 people were being sent to other detention centers in Texas.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Shell Oil evacuated workers from oil rigs, but said it didn't expect production to be affected. It also secured wells and shut down production in the Rio Grande Valley, where it primarily deals in natural gas.
Mexico's state-run oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said it had evacuated 66 workers from an oil platform off the coast of the port city of Tampico. Pemex said in a statement that it had readied a team and the resources needed in case of damage to oil installations in the region.
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Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Harlingen, Texas; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; Mark Walsh in Matamoros, Mexico; Jaime Zea in Mexico City; Regina L. Burns in Dallas and videographer Rich Matthews on South Padre Island contributed to this report.
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