Cat 1 Hurricane Heading for Southern Texas

Kodiak · Post by **Kodiak** » 2008-07-22 06:27pm

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (CNN) -- Dolly became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday afternoon in the western Gulf of Mexico, prompting a weather official to urge anyone on Texas' barrier islands to consider leaving immediately.

Dolly, formerly a tropical storm, was heading toward southern Texas and northeastern Mexico and was expected to make landfall Wednesday morning, forecasters said.

"Anyone in the far South Texas barrier islands who don't want to ride out the rough conditions of a hurricane should be leaving now and not waiting until tomorrow," said Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center.

By Wednesday, Read said, it probably will be too late to escape the storm because roads could be "easily overwashed."

At 5 p.m. ET, the storm, with sustained winds near 75 mph and gusts of 90 mph, was centered in the Gulf of Mexico about 165 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, the hurricane center said.

A Category 1 hurricane carries sustained winds between 74 mph and 95 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the Texas coast from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and for northeast Mexico from Rio San Fernando to the U.S. border.

"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the center said.

An average of 10 inches of rain is expected to fall in the region over the next few days, with some areas getting more than 15 inches, Read said.

"That will cause severe ponding and could become problematic with many villages in the area," he said.

Residents of Brownsville were preparing for the storm, according to police spokesman Jimmy Manrrique.

"The citizens here are reacting very well. They've stocked up on their supplies," Manrrique said. "At this point, we're preparing for a lot of rain and some wind damage."

Hurricane force winds extended up to 15 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extended up to 160 miles at 5 p.m. ET. Tornadoes are possible overnight, the hurricane center said.

Hurricane warnings that were in effect from north of Corpus Christi, Texas, to Port O'Connor were downgraded to tropical storm warnings by 11 a.m.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for residents living north of Corpus Christi to San Luis Pass, Texas. The region from Rio San Fernando to La Pesca is under a hurricane watch as well as a tropical storm warning.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry activated 1,200 National Guard troops and other emergency crews. He ordered 250 buses to stage in San Antonio to be ready to help in evacuations if needed.

Soldiers were being sent into the Mexican border town of Matamoros to protect against looting if residents have to evacuate, The Associated Press reported.

Shell Oil told the AP that it was evacuating workers from oil rigs in the western Gulf of Mexico.

Hotels and businesses in the Texas resort of South Padre Island were beginning to board their windows as they awaited the storm, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf reported. Some tourists were cutting their vacations short, he said.

A Navy spokesman said authorities will decide Tuesday whether aircraft based in Corpus Christi, Texas, should be moved farther inland because of the storm.

A number of ships taking part in exercises off the mid-Atlantic coast have been repositioned to avoid Tropical Storm Cristobal, the spokesman said.

Early Tuesday, Cristobal paralleled the Atlantic Seaboard as it slowly began losing steam.

At 11 a.m. ET, Cristobal was moving toward the east-northeast near 25 mph, about 280 miles south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The storm was packing 65-mph winds but is expected to weaken over the next 24 hours.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and runs through November.

'Tis the season for hurricanes. I just hope we can take these warnings seriously at a local, state, and federal level.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-22 06:30pm

If it's only class 1 and weakening, isn't it too weak to be worried about?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-07-22 06:34pm

Darth Wong wrote:If it's only class 1 and weakening, isn't it too weak to be worried about?

First one of the season in the US, there'll be flash floods and unprepared people.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-07-22 07:02pm

Darth Wong wrote:If it's only class 1 and weakening, isn't it too weak to be worried about?

In my case I've got people who might as well be family dead in its path and unprepared (they were on vacation).

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-07-22 07:06pm

Ender wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:If it's only class 1 and weakening, isn't it too weak to be worried about?
In my case I've got people who might as well be family dead in its path and unprepared (they were on vacation).

Ouch. I hope they come through it okay.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2008-07-22 09:43pm

Darth Wong wrote:If it's only class 1 and weakening, isn't it too weak to be worried about?

I don't know if everything down there is stronger or what, but in the Midwest we worry a bit about thunderstorms with 60 mph winds. A weak hurricane is still a threat to life and property, just not as much of one as a monster like Katrina.

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2008-07-23 08:01am

I'm not overly concerned. I'm not directly in it's path, of course, and while I'll see some rain and possibly hear about local flooding, well, I live next to a reservoir so it's unlikely that I'll be in any trouble. And as DW pointed out, it's Category 1 and weakening as it makes its landfall. There will be a few unfortunates or just plain morons who'll be caught by this but for the most part it'll just blow over. So to speak.

Mr. Coffee · Post by **Mr. Coffee** » 2008-07-23 10:03am

One time when Dolly went to Texas she made a movie with Burt Reynolds...

gizmojumpjet · Post by **gizmojumpjet** » 2008-07-23 12:23pm

It's official, she's up to Cat. 2 now, with 100+ mile winds. At least the Texas coast is flat, so we won't see any mudslides like the one that killed those 12 family members in Guatemala. I was actually glad to get a bit of rain this morning.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-07-23 12:36pm

This is bad. They've already shut down 5% of the rigs in the path, they may do more if the storm has suddenly gotten more energy now.

The US is in precarious shape with imports as it is. The damage that could be wreaked by the storm on civilian populations could be nasty, but a major hit on the GOM energy infrastructure could easily be worse.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-23 01:03pm

WTF? I thought they said it was weakening, not getting stronger.

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2008-07-23 01:05pm

Darth Wong wrote:WTF? I thought they said it was weakening, not getting stronger.

It's kind of hovering off the coast at the moment, building up strength a little bit before coming fully onto land.

gizmojumpjet · Post by **gizmojumpjet** » 2008-07-23 01:10pm

The weather's some tricky shit!

My buddy actually works offshore inspecting, repairing, and decommissioning rigs and pipelines. I just shot him an email to see if he can send me his super-detailed map of all the GOM rig locations. It's been a while since I saw it, but I don't think the rig density down by Brownsville is anything like it is off the coast of Louisiana, so it could probably be a lot worse.

I am sure he is doing glee-induced backflips right now because hurricanes and the damage they cause means work for him.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-07-23 02:01pm

Darth Wong wrote:WTF? I thought they said it was weakening, not getting stronger.

It was, and it seemed to be going too fast to gather much energy from the warmer gulf waters. Yet, here it is, becoming something of a threat again.

Actually, this hurricane season so far has been a strange one. Quite powerful storms in the early part of it already and we're seeing records being broken.

I don't think the area can take another Katrina.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-07-23 07:49pm

Darth Wong wrote:WTF? I thought they said it was weakening, not getting stronger.

Doesn't much matter. You have to shutdown production on an oil rig during any bad storm, even some which aren’t even category 1 hurricanes, because the men can’t work on deck. At that point the men on the rig are doing nothing yet present a risk of accidents and death, so they get flown off back to a land base. If the storm isn’t to bad then the rigs wont be damaged and the shutdown only lasts 2-3 days.

Commander 598 · Post by **Commander 598** » 2008-07-23 08:47pm

I'm not quite sure I understand Valdemar's shitting of bricks here. Hurricanes are very common to this part of the world, so common in fact that they happen every year. I do not feel that a [barely] Category2 storm qualifies as "quite powerful".

Of course I'm a bit desensitized to storms these days and my area is in need of the rain this hurricane has generated.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2008-07-23 08:58pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:WTF? I thought they said it was weakening, not getting stronger.
It was, and it seemed to be going too fast to gather much energy from the warmer gulf waters. Yet, here it is, becoming something of a threat again.

Actually, this hurricane season so far has been a strange one. Quite powerful storms in the early part of it already and we're seeing records being broken.

I don't think the area can take another Katrina.

Dolly has already made landfall and is dying down as we speak. A high-pressure ridge stalled it for its last few miles in toward the coast at the Tex-Mex border, but now that landfall has passed, Dolly's story will be coming to an end by mid morning tomorrow.