Tropical Storm Alberto Heavy rain swept over Mexico on Thursday, killing at least three people but also bringing hope to a region struggling with a prolonged, severe drought. This is First called the storm season.
The storm is expected to weaken quickly over land as it moves west and dissipate late in the day or Thursday night. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Rain from Alberto came on both sides of the border, extending along the South Texas coast and as far south as the Mexican state of Veracruz. Rain and strong winds were beginning to taper off the Texas coast, but were expected to continue into northeastern Mexico into the morning, the hurricane center said.
By 8 a.m. EDT, the center of Alberto was moving west at 13 mph, with sustained maximum winds of 45 mph. Wind speeds have decreased since the hurricane center was last updated.
Precipitation from Alberto should drop in South Texas during the day, with an inch or less expected, the center said, although there could be “a tornado or two in deep parts of South Texas.”
Heavy rain is expected to continue into northeastern Mexico through the morning, with more than 5 to 10 inches expected. A maximum of 20 inches is possible in the high terrain of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.
This “is likely to cause new and renewed river flooding, river flooding. There is also a possibility of mudslides over high terrain in northeastern Mexico,” the center added.
Mexican authorities downplayed Alberto’s risks and instead pinned hopes on its ability to ease the parched region’s water needs.
“The wind speed is not such that it can be considered a risk,” Tamaulipas Hydrological Resources Secretary Raul Quiroga Alvarez said at a news conference late Wednesday. Instead, he suggested that people greet Alberto with joy. “That’s what we’re hoping for in eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”
Much of Mexico is experiencing severe drought conditions, with northern Mexico particularly affected. Quiroga noted that the state’s reservoirs were low and Mexico owed the United States a huge water debt due to shared use of the Rio Grande.
“This is a win-win event for Tamaulipa,” he said.
But in the nearby state of Nuevo León, civil protection authorities said three people were killed by Alberto’s rain. They said one man died in the La Silla River in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and two minors died of electrocution in the municipality of Allende. According to local media, the minors were riding bicycles in the rain.
The governor of Nuevo León, Samuel Garcia, wrote on his account on the social media platform X that the metro and public transport in Monterrey will be suspended from Wednesday night until Thursday afternoon when Alberto passes.
People in Mexico were hoping Alberto would bring rain.
Blanca Coronel Moral, a resident of Tampico, went to the city’s beach on Wednesday to wait for Alberto to arrive.
“We needed this water that we’re getting now, thank God. Let’s hope that we only get water,” Coronel Moral said. Our lagoon, which provides us with drinking water, is completely dry.
Authorities have closed schools in Tamaulipas for the rest of the week due to the possibility of localized flooding.
