A father and daughter enjoy the waves between Murdoch's and Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas. Photo / AP
A father and daughter enjoy the waves between Murdoch's and Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas. Photo / AP
Tropical Storm Alberto formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, the first named storm of what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season.
Alberto, which is bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of Texas and Mexico, is expected to make landfall in northern Mexico on Thursday.
“The heavy rainfall and the water, as usual, is the biggest story in tropical storms,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.
The National Hurricane Center said early on Wednesday afternoon that Alberto was located about 290km east of Tampico, Mexico, and about 475km south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 65km/h.
The centre of the storm was expected to reach the northeastern coast of Mexico south of the mouth of the Rio Grande by early Thursday morning.
Brennan said that winds could get up to 72km/h to 80km/h before the storm makes landfall.
As much as 13cm to 25cm of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals possible, Brennan said. He said some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 50m of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.
Américo Villarreal said on X, formerly Twitter, that schools across the state will remain closed between Wednesday and Friday.
The storm was moving west at 15km/h. Tropical storm warnings were in effect from the Texas coast at San Luis Pass southward to the mouth of the Rio Grande and from the northeastern coast of Mexico south of the mouth of the Rio Grande to Tecolutla.
“Rapid weakening is expected once the centre moves inland, and Alberto is likely to dissipate over Mexico” on Thursday, the centre said.
The US National Weather Service said the main hazard for southern coastal Texas is flooding from excess rain. The NWS said there is “a high probability” of flash flooding in southern coastal Texas. Tornadoes or waterspouts are possible.
NOAA predicts the hurricane season that began on June 1 and runs through to November 30 is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
A couple cross a flooded section of The Strand near Kempner St in Galveston, Texas. Photo / AP
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
Brennan said that the first named system in the Atlantic on average comes on June 20, so Alberto is “about right on schedule”.
In the Village of Surfside Beach, located on a barrier island on the Texas coast about 104km south of Houston, Mayor Gregg Bisso said that rains had already left about 60cm of water on streets on the west end of the island, making them impassable.
“We’re on a barrier island and there’s no place for the rain to go, plus the extremely high tides, everything is just hanging right there and it’s flooding all the streets,” Bisso said, adding that double red flags have been placed on the beach to warn people that no one should be in the water because of the extreme rip tides.
“Those conditions were extremely bad out there yesterday, and today,” he said.
All of the homes on the island are elevated anywhere from 3m to 4m above the ground, so they don’t expect homes to flood and evacuations were not ordered.
“We’re just waiting for the rains to stop and the tide to go down,” he said.
Brennan said there will be dangerous rip currents from the storm and drivers should watch out for road closures and turn around if they see water covering roadways.
A no-name storm earlier in June dumped more than 50cm of rain on parts of South Florida, stranding numerous motorists on flooded streets and pushing water into some homes in low-lying areas.
“People underestimate the power of water and they sometimes don’t always take rainfall and the threats that come with it seriously, especially if you are driving in an area and you see water covering the road, you don’t want to drive into it,” Brennan said. “You don’t know how deep the water is. The road may be washed out. It doesn’t take but just a few inches of water that are moving to move your car.”
