Storm Erika speeds toward Texas

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Storm
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — One month after Hurricane Claudette hit the Texas coast, hurricane warnings were posted Friday along parts of the same coastline as fast-moving Tropical Storm Erika churned across the Gulf of Mexico.

Color-enhanced satellite image of intensifying Tropical Storm Erika over the Gulf of Mexico Friday morning.
NOAA

Forecasters with the National Weather Service said that at 1 p.m. CT Friday, the storm was 310 miles east of Brownsville and moving to the west around 23 mph.

"I sure don't recall one moving this fast," said Harley Londrie, manager of ZimCo Marine Inc. on Port Isabel. He spent Friday morning calling his fleet of 23 boats in from around the gulf. "It's moving so fast they'll otherwise be right in the middle of it," he said.

Erika's sustained winds were about 50 mph, up from 45 mph earlier in the day, but still well below hurricane strength. (Related: Latest forecast track, advisories)

However, the storm was showing signs of strengthening and it was forecast to grow into a Category 1 hurricane before it strikes either southern Texas or northern Mexico on Saturday.

Category 1 hurricanes, the least-severe, have winds between 74 and 95 mph accompanied by 4- to 5-foot storm surges. They usually cause minimal damage. (Related: The Saffir-Simpson hurricane damage scale)

A hurricane watch that was in effect for a 180-mile stretch of the south Texas coast was narrowed and upgraded at 10 a.m. to a hurricane warning from Brownsville to Baffin Bay – about half the distance the watch had covered.

A hurricane warning means Erika could make landfall with steady winds of at least 74 mph within 24 hours.


The Weather Channel
Erika's forecast track for the next three days.


Erika is predicted to make landfall Saturday morning in the Brownsville area. Brownsville is just north of the Mexican border.

Claudette, the first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season, hit land July 15, classified as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. (Unofficial sustained winds neared 100 mph, and the hurricane may have been stronger than anyone at the time knew. Related: The National Hurricane Center is reviewing Claudette's intensity.)

The storm caused damage along more than 250 miles of Texas coastline, tearing off roofs, flattening trailers and toppling trees. Several low-lying areas were flooded, and at least two people were killed, both by falling trees or limbs.

But Claudette hit farther north along the coast, and Brownsville residents apparently were waiting for a more definitive warning before packing up on supplies. Business remained light Friday morning at stores such as Home Depot, Kmart and Wal-Mart Supercenter.

"I guess with Claudette the last go-around, people are really hesitating on buying early," said Alan Le Grice, a Kmart manager in Brownsville. "It's kind of a late thing. Once they know for sure, they'll react. I'm sure we'll see a little more activity as the day progresses."

Jeff Johnstone, emergency management coordinator for the city of Brownsville, said all city directors would be making preliminary storm plans on Friday.

"We've been in contact with the Brownsville Independent School District, the Red Cross and PUB (Public Utilities Board)," he said. "We're implementing standard hurricane plans. We're comfortable. We'll be ready for it."

National Weather Service meteorologist Ramn Sierra said the storm could bring several inches of rain to Brownsville, but said that's a "tough call."

The rainfall threatened to devastate the 35% of the remaining cotton harvest still in the fields, said Hollis Sullivan of the General Valley Co-Op Oil Mill. "You can't do anything if the cotton is wet," he said. "Some of them are out in the fields now picking and stripping."

Business owners along the coast were preparing to close early and begin boarding up.

Raymond Moreno, manager of Pirate's Landing restaurant on the bay at Port Isabel, said workers were "more or less getting ready," even as tourists continued fishing on the restaurant's piers.

"I thought it was going to scare people away, but people are going out there to fish," he said.

The system that became Erika passed over Florida on Wednesday night, unleashing flooding rain south of Miami. It reached tropical storm strength on Thursday over the gulf.

A tropical storm warning extends from north of Baffin Bay farther up the Texas coast across Corpus Christi to Port O'Connor, which is where Claudette hit. That's because tropical storm force winds blowing faster than 39 mph extend 115 miles from Erika's center.

Campers at Cameron County's South Padre Island recreational vehicle park were being advised of the storm, with officials warning the predicted high wind would be strong enough to tip trailers over.

The Mexican government changed its hurricane watch to a hurricane warning and shrunk it to include the coast from the Rio Grande River southward to La Pesca.

Northeast winds of 15-20 mph along the south Texas coast Friday afternoon are expected to increase to tropical storm force of at least 39 mph late Friday evening into early Saturday. Tides also will begin to increase later Friday.

South Texas and northeast Mexico can expect heavy surf, torrential rain of 3-6 inches and the possibility of tornadoes along with a lot of wind through Saturday.

Erika is the Atlantic hurricane season's fifth named storm.

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