Thread: Border Checkpoints: South Texas braces for Alex's worst

South Texas braces for Alex's worst
Houston can expect higher winds and an growing chance of rain today

By LYNN BREZOSKY
SAN ANTONIO-EXPRESS NEWS
June 28, 2010, 10:52PM

Brad Doherty AP

BROWNSVILLE — Ponds were being drained, sandbags filled and recreational vehicle campers on South Padre Island urged to move out as Tropical Storm Alex powered up Monday over the Gulf of Mexico.

Rio Grande Valley leaders were gearing up for the worst, and Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster proclamation for 19 counties that allowed the pre-deployment of state resources to coastal areas.

The National Hurricane Center and the government of Mexico issued a hurricane warning extending from La Cruz, Mexico, to Baffin Bay, just south of Kingsville. The warning means tropical-storm-force winds could reach the area by midmorning Wednesday, meteorologists said.

Alex's impact on the Houston area likely will be felt today as winds out of the east increase to around 20 mph and the chance of showers and thunderstorms increases.

National Weather Service forecasters called for a 50 to 60 percent chance for rain today as the storm's outermost bands move into the area. Rain probability increases Wednesday.

As of Monday evening, the storm was 85 miles west of Campeche, Mexico, and 525 miles southeast of Brownsville with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.

Forecasters expected it to continue moving north-northwest at about 7 mph, developing into a hurricane by today. The storm is expected to be less powerful than previously predicted, forecasters said late Monday, but still develop winds as high as 120 mph by Wednesday. Projections late Monday had Alex on a path to reach landfall near the Mexico-U.S. border sometime Thursday morning.

Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada readied the city's command center and asked commercial driver's license holders to register for jobs to evacuate people in school buses. He urged residents who needed evacuation assistance to call 211. He said plans were being made for evacuations both north toward San Antonio and west toward Laredo.

The Laredo route, which follows the Rio Grande upriver, does not have immigration checkpoints. Immigrant advocates have long worried that people in the country illegally would refuse to evacuate for fear of being detained at highway checkpoints north of the Valley.

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Joe Treviño said operations at the checkpoints continued but that "we will not hamper or harm evacuations in any way."

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos called for a voluntary relocation of RVs and other high-profile vehicles from county parks on South Padre Island. He also ordered public works crews to clean out ditches, fill sandbags and ready heavy equipment and water pumps for flash flooding.

Voluntary evacuation

South Padre Mayor Bob Pinkerton issued a voluntary evacuation call for all residents and visitors.

"It's kind of the normal thing that we do," he said.

Perry said it was "imperative that residents pay attention to this storm, heed warnings from their local leaders and take the steps necessary to protect their families, homes and businesses."

The governor's office said the state was readying resources, including up to 2,500 guardsmen, eight UH-60 helicopters and three C-130 aircraft to deploy as needed.

Memories on South Padre are still fresh from Hurricane Dolly, which in July 2008 blew roofs off hotels and wiped out power, stranding vacationers because they could not pump gasoline. Pinkerton said the best hope for the Valley would be if the storm continued tracking north, sparing the region its strongest force.

"We want to be on the south side of the storm," Pinkerton said. "When Dolly hit ... it was practically over us."

Chronicle reporters Allan Turner and Mike Glenn contributed to this story.

lbrezosky@express-news.net

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 85352.html

While I can't find a link, I remember that the last time there was a major storm in that area, a lot of the Mexican illegals went back home temporarily. This would be a good time to slam to door shut if that's the case.