Swelling Hurricane Emily threatens US-Mexico border

By Noel Randewich

SOTO LA MARINA, Mexico (Reuters) – Thousands fled for
shelter around the Mexico-Texas border on Tuesday night as
approaching Hurricane Emily lashed the coast with strong winds
and rain after killing at least five people in the Caribbean.

Emily packed winds of 125 mph (200 kph) and strengthened to
a Category 3 hurricane, capable of destroying mobile homes and
blowing over large trees, as it churned toward northeastern
Mexico, where it was set to make landfall early on Wednesday.

Some 17,000 Mexicans in Tamaulipas state were evacuated to
shelters where many fretted over the fate of their corrugated
iron homes in tiny fishing villages by the coast.

“My house is made of sheet metal. All my belongings are
there. Of course I’m worried,” said mother-of-four Isabel
Padron, 33, taking refuge in a school in the town of Soto La
Marina, 60 km (38 miles) inland from her coastal village.

Mud squelched around the school as drizzle signaled Emily’s
arrival. The area often floods, locals said.

“Normally it comes up to here,” said 34-year-old Marivel
Morales, also evacuated from the coast, pointing to her waist.

“With a hurricane it will be up to here,” she said waving
her hand above her head.

Downpours and whirling winds hit the border city of
Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, foreshadowing the
arrival of worse weather. Officials said the fact Emily passed
over warm water raised the chances of it strengthening.

Residents of coastal lowlands in the far south of Texas
laid sandbags at their homes and nailed plywood over their
windows, some adding messages telling Emily to “Go Away!”

On South Padre Island, a popular vacation spot off the tip
of Texas, police ordered tourists at a trailer park to leave.

“I’m having a good time here … but we’ve gotta run,” said
Alex, the last camper to leave.

Meteorologists said the storm could cause tornadoes as far
north as Austin, Texas. “They will be tropical, they will be
short-lived, they will be hard to find, but they will be out
there,” said Larry Eblen, of the National Weather Service
office in San Antonio.

Cameron County declared a state of emergency and Texas Gov.
Rick Perry ordered over 225 National Guard members and nine
National Guard aircraft on standby.

OIL EXPORTS SUSPENDED

At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), the storm’s center was 120 miles
southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and moving west-northwest at a
slow 7 mph (11 kph).

Emily’s center was expected to hit land some 150 miles
south of the border, near low-lying fishing communities.

Heavy rain was seen likely in mountainous regions further
inland and forecasters warned of life-threatening flash floods
and mudslides.

Emily killed five people in Jamaica in its swing through
the Caribbean as a Category 4 hurricane, and several people
died in Mexico in incidents indirectly caused by the storm.

The storm was set for its second bite at Mexico, after
slamming into the Caribbean coast on Monday, sending tens of
thousands of tourists and locals to shelters in beach resorts
in and around the vacation mecca of Cancun.

The storm smashed buildings, toppled trees and knocked out
power but the damage was less than many had feared.

Mexican oil exports were suspended and not set to restart
until Wednesday after oil operations in the southern Gulf of
Mexico were halted due to the hurricane.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas producers expected
to remain unscathed, however.

(Additional reporting by Catherine Bremer and Miguel Angel
Gutierrez in Mexico City, Jim Forsyth and Erwin Seba in Texas,
and Alejandro Juarez in Matamoros)