Storm Eyes Texas, Could Become Hurricane
Posted on: Sunday, 13 July 2003, 06:00 CDT
Tropical Storm Claudette continued its slow churn toward the Texas coast early Sunday, with forecasters expecting the plodding storm system to make landfall as a hurricane by early Tuesday.
Early Sunday morning, the storm was about 350 miles southeast of Brownsville and continuing about 8 mph toward the mouth of the Rio Grande. Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph, with higher gusts.
"It has slowed down during the last day or so," said Carl McElroy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville. "Around Tuesday morning would the best estimate (for landfall). Right now, it's just in a weak steering section of the Gulf of Mexico."
McElroy said Claudette was expected to stay tropical storm strength through Sunday morning, then gather strength as it moves across the Gulf.
Authorities in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, started preparing shelters Saturday in case the storm intensifies, according to the Mexican government news agency Notimex.
Claudette swept over the tourist resort of Cancun early Friday, battering high-rise hotels with high winds, flooding several streets and closing the international airport for several hours. But life quickly returned to normal.
In Texas, petroleum giant BP evacuated nonessential employees from oil and gas platforms along the Gulf of Mexico, but the company had not shut down production, a spokesman said.
Claudette is the third tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. It developed Tuesday in the Caribbean, brushing Jamaica's southern coast with heavy rain and rough surf, battering the Cayman Islands with dangerous waves and above-normal tides and scattering rain over parts of Cuba before arriving in Mexico.
Experts have predicted a busy Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
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On the Net:
Tropical Prediction Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
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