TAMPICO (AP) – Tropical Storm Alberto rumbled toward northeast Mexico early yesterday as the first named storm of the season, carrying heavy rains that left three people dead but also brought hope to a region suffering under a prolonged, severe drought.
Mexican authorities downplayed the risk posed by Alberto and instead pinned their hopes on its ability to ease the parched region’s water needs.
“The (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk,” said Tamaulipas state Secretary of Hydrological Resources Raúl Quiroga Álvarez during a news conference late on Wednesday.
Instead, he suggested people greet Alberto happily. “This is what we’ve been for for eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”
Much of Mexico has been suffering under severe drought, with northern Mexico especially hard hit. Quiroga noted that the state’s reservoirs were low and Mexico owed the United States a massive water debt in their shared use of the Rio Grande.
“This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” he said.
But in nearby Nuevo Leon state, civil protection authorities reported three deaths linked to Alberto’s rains. They said one man died in the La Silla river in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and that two minors died from electric shocks in the municipality of Allende.
Local media reported that the minors were riding a bicycle in the rain.
Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel García wrote on his account on social media platform X that metro and public transportation services were suspended in Monterrey from Wednesday night until midday yesterday.
Late Wednesday, Alberto was located about 64 kilometres east of Tampico, Mexico, and about 402 kilometres south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving west at 13 miles per hour.
Alberto was bringing rains and flooding to the coast of Texas as well.
The United States National Weather Service (NWS) said the main hazard for southern coastal Texas is flooding from excess rain. On Wednesday the NWS said there is “a high probability” of flash flooding in southern coastal Texas. Tornadoes or waterspouts are possible.
Areas along the Texas coast were seeing some road flooding and dangerous rip currents Wednesday, and waterspouts were spotted offshore.
In Mexico, residents expressed hope for Alberto bringing rain.
Blanca Coronel Moral, a resident of Tampico, ventured out to the city’s waterfront on Wednesday to await Alberto’s arrival.
“We have been needing this water that we’re now getting. Let’s hope that we only get water,” said Coronel Moral. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”
Authorities closed schools for the remainder of the week in Tamaulipas as there could be localised flooding.
As much as 13-25 centimetres of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals possible, according to the National Hurricane Center. Some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 50 centimetres of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.
