Tropical storm Dolly puts Valley under Hurricane Watch

A hurricane watch has been issued for parts of the Texas and Mexico coasts as Tropical Storm Dolly enters the Gulf of Mexico.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday that the watch in Texas extends from Brownsville to Port O'Connor. The government of Mexico also issued a hurricane watch from Rio San Fernando northward to the U.S. border.

A tropical storm watch is also in effect on the Texas coast from north of Port O'Connor to San Luis Pass and from La Pesca, Mexico, northward to Rio San Fernando.

Cameron County Emergency Management officials are urging residents to begin preparations should Tropical Storm Dolly strike the area.

Residents need to start taking precautions now," County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said.

"Take care of your pets... check the batteries on the flashlights. People need to take responsibility for themselves," Cascos said. 

County officials had a 10 a.m.conference with the National Weather Service followed by a conference call with the state's emergency management officials where officials said the county should get ready for some heavy rainfall.

"The main concern is that Tropical Storm Dolly will intensify, but to what degree we don't know," said Jack Colley, the state's emergency management coordinator. "It will impact people and lots of people."

Tropical Storm Dolly is expected to make landfall either late Wednesday or early Thursday as a strong Category 1 or a Category 2 hurricane possibly in the county or north of it. It could drop up to four inches of rain per hour.

"Cameron County is a good bet at this time. Circulation is well defined...it is starting to pull an eye together," said Nezette N. Rydell, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Brownsville. 

Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos is urging residents with high-profile vehicles at Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island to get ready to remove their vehicles off the county park should a call for removal be made.

A decision will be made later this afternoon.

The county's public works department employees are filling sandbags should they be needed. They are also cleaning drains.

An announcement on the possible distribution of sandbags will be made later this afternoon. The county and cities are coordinating the distribution so sandbags throughout the county will be distributed at the same time.

The county is also working with the local school district officials to see if they will be willing to open up some of their schools as possible shelters site within the various communities.

The Red Cross will not open any shelters in the county.

County and state officials will confer again at 4:30 p.m. today.

Tropical Storm Dolly drenched the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday and was poised to plunge into the Gulf of Mexico, where it could grow into a hurricane on a preliminary track that would carry it near the Texas-Mexico border.

The storm hit the storm-prone peninsula with heavy rains and high winds, according to the U.S. National Weather Service in Miami, which also forecast downpours and winds in western Cuba.

At 1 p.m. CDT, the center of Tropical Storm Dolly was located about 475 miles east-southeast of the lower Rio Grande Valley. Mexico discontinued its tropical storm warning for the Yucatan Peninsula.

The governor of Quintana Roo state, where Cancun and most of Mexico's Caribbean coast are located, ordered the evacuation of small, low-lying islands Banco Chinchorro and Punta Allen as a precautionary measure.

Residents were stocking up on food and fuel, while some hotels were still monitoring the storm closely before taking any measures.

Cancun, the largest resort on Mexico's Caribbean coast, was ravaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Far out in the Pacific, meanwhile, Hurricane Fausto grew to Category 2 status with sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph). It was centered about 405 miles (650 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja California Peninsula.

Off the eastern coast of the United States, Tropical Storm Cristobal was heading toward the northeast, away from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph) and it was not projected to grow stronger or weaken much over the coming day.

To download The Brownsville Herald Hurricane Guide 2008 and tracking map CLICK HERE.