Hurricane Tropical As the first named storm of the season, Alberto tore into northeast Mexico early on Thursday, bringing with it heavy rains that claimed three lives but also gave hope to an area that had been suffering from an extended, severe drought.
The Mexican government played down the danger that Alberto might represent and instead focused on how it might lessen the region’s thirst for water.
Raúl Quiroga Álvarez, the state secretary of hydrological resources for Tamaulipas, stated during a late-Wednesday news conference that “The (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk. This is what we’ve been for for eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”
A significant portion of Mexico has been severely drought-stricken, with the north being particularly badly affected. Quiroga pointed out that Mexico owed the United States a significant amount of water due to their joint use of the Rio Grande, and that the state’s reservoirs were low.
“This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” he stated.
However, civil protection officials in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon confirmed three fatalities connected to Alberto’s rains. They claimed that two children in the municipality of Allende perished from electric shocks and that one guy perished in the La Silla river in the state capital of Monterrey.
The children were reportedly riding bicycles in the rain, according to the local media.
New Leon On social networking site X, Gov. Samuel García announced that Monterrey’s metro and public transportation services would be suspended from Wednesday night until Thursday midday, the day Alberto passes away.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Alberto had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) late on Wednesday. It was situated approximately 320 miles (510 kilometers) south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and approximately 135 miles (220 kilometers) east of Tampico, Mexico. At nine miles per hour, the storm was heading west.
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Texas’s coast was also experiencing flooding and precipitation because to Alberto.
Flooding from excessive rain is the major concern for southern coastal Texas, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. The National Weather Service (NWS) stated on Wednesday that flash flooding is “highly probable” in southern coastal Texas. There could be waterspouts or tornadoes.
On Wednesday, hazardous rip currents and some road flooding were reported in coastal Texas, while waterspouts were observed offshore.
Residents of Mexico expressed anticipation that Alberto would bring rain. Tampico local Blanca Coronel Moral went to the city’s port on Wednesday to wait for Alberto.
“We have been needing this water that we’re now getting, thank God. Let’s hope that we only get water,” Coronel Moral stated. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”
Tamaulipas schools were shuttered by the authorities for the rest of the week due to the possibility of localized flooding.
The National Hurricane Center predicted up to 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 cm) of rain in some parts of the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals likely. Up to 20 inches (50 cm) of rain might fall in some higher parts of Mexico, causing flash flooding and mudslides, particularly in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.
Alberto was dumping rain on both sides of the border, reaching as far south as the state of Veracruz in Mexico and up much of the coast of south Texas.
On land, Alberto was predicted to rapidly weaken and disappear on Thursday.
