Flood-Weary Texas On Tropical Storm Watch Tropical Depression Threatens Coast From Freeport To Mexico
Like this Story? Share it: Share On Facebook Tweet This NOAA satellite image taken Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007 at 2:15 pm EDT shows clouds associated with Tropical Storm Dean about 1500 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. In the Gulf of Mexico, a low pressure system just north of the Yucatan Peninsula is generating widely scattered showers and thunderstorms. This system has a potential to become a tropical cyclone. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND) Interactive Storm Tracker Follow all the storms of the 2010 season with satellite images, warnings and wind speed charts.
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A tropical depression that formed late Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico threatened to bring heavy rain to already-sodden Texas, as a tropical storm watch was issued for much of the state's coast.At 11 p.m. EDT, the fifth depression of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 425 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and about 425 miles east of La Pesca, Mexico.The depression is moving toward the northwest at nearly 10 mph. It was expected to turn west-northwest by late Wednesday. Maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph. A tropical storm has winds of at least 39 mph.The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the Texas coast from Freeport, south of Houston, southward to the border. The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm watch for the northwest coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward.A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.Gov. Rick Perry said he was sending emergency vehicles and personnel to South Texas in advance of the weather system.Because storms have saturated much of our state this summer, many communities in this storm's projected path are at high risk of dangerous flash flooding, Perry said in a statement hours before the tropical storm watch was issued.He said he was sending 30 vehicles and 60 Texas National Guard members to Weslaco and San Antonio, was activating three helicopter rescue swimmer teams and was putting six teams on standby. Volunteer organizations were being prepared to provide mass care support.National Weather Service forecaster Tim Speece said the system could bring heavy rains as far north as Victoria and as far inland as the Hill Country.Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Dean got a little stronger late Tuesday in the Atlantic but still remained far from land, forecasters said.At 11 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 1,295 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center. It had top sustained winds of 50 mph, up from 40 mph earlier in the day. Some strengthening was expected within the next day.Dean was moving over increasingly warmer waters, where atmospheric conditions could create a favorable environment for intensification into a hurricane by Friday, forecasters said. It was cruising west at about 18 mph. Forecasters said it was too early to tell where Dean will go.Hurricanes have sustained winds of at least 74 mph.Hurricane forecasters expect this year's Atlantic hurricane season to be busier than average. Last week, they said as many as 16 tropical storms were likely to form, with nine strengthening into hurricanes.The season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but August typically marks the start of the most active period. Ten tropical storms developed in the Atlantic last year, but only two made landfall in the United States.
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La tormenta tropical Erin se ha formado en el Golfo de México. Se espera que toque tierra el jueves, cerca de Corpus Christi, Texas, según declararon meteorólogos.

La tormenta había comenzado como una benévola depresión tropical.

A las 11 a.m. EDT de hoy, el National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration de Estados Unidos midió vientos que sobrepasaban las 40 mph que indicaba una tormenta tropical.

A las 11:30 a.m. EDT, la tormenta estaba a 250 millas al este de Brownsville, Texas, y a 295 millas al noreste-este de La Pesca, México, y se midieron vientos de 30 mph.

Rick Perry, gobernador de Texas, advirtió que en el curso de la tormenta se podrían causar varias inundaciones. "Como las tormentas han saturado bastante de nuestro estado este verano, varias comunidades en el recorrido previsto de la tormenta están en gran riesgo de sufrir peligrosas inundaciones relámpago".

El gobernador Perry ha puesto a un estimado de 30 vehículos y 60 miembros de la Guardia Nacional en el área en caso de inundación. Además, el equipo de respuesta a emergencias de Texas se ha movilizado.

También hay miembros de la Texas Task Force One, que fueron entrenados en búsquedas urbanas y técnicas de rescate. Corey Ricketson con la Texas Task Force One dijo: "Tenemos comida, agua y refugio, tenemos duchas, camas, y todo lo que necesitamos aquí para ir a una localización remota y ser una unidad autosuficiente".

México también ha declarado una emergencia en su país.