Hurricane Emily roared ashore Wednesday about
30 miles east of San Fernando, Mexico
Hurricane Emily roared ashore Wednesday about
30 miles east of San Fernando, Mexico |
|
The Category 3 storm had top sustained winds of 125 mph when it made landfall at 7:22 a.m. ET.
Category 3 hurricanes have winds between 111 mph to 130 mph. They can cause structural damage to small residences and utility buildings, blow down large trees and cause extensive damage to mobile homes.
Hurricane warnings stretched from Port Mansfield, Texas, to La Cruz, Mexico, and tropical storm warnings extended south to the Mexican beach town of Cabo Rojo and northward to Baffin Bay, Texas.
The storm, which skipped across the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday, was moving west-northwest at near 8 mph.
Hurricane-force winds extended 70 miles outward from its center, while tropical storm winds extended out 160 miles. Also, a coastal surge of 7 to 11 feet above normal tide levels -- with higher levels in bays -- along with large and battering waves was predicted near and to the north where Emily's eye makes landfall.
The last major storm to hit northeastern Mexico was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. The storm had top winds of 120 mph and killed 260 people as it followed a path similar to Emily's -- through the Caribbean islands, across the Yucatan Peninsula and back into the Mexican mainland.
Northeastern Mexico is expected to see the most rain, where 5 to 10 inches are forecast with up to 15 inches falling in the mountains.
Far inland, in the Nuevo Leon state capital of Monterrey, residents were taking precautions against high winds and heavy rain. Emergency workers say those conditions could cause flooding that would severely damage poorly built homes in some neighborhoods, and they have been walking those neighborhoods urging people to evacuate.
"We know what's out there and we know what's coming, so we'll see what happens," said Ruttilo Macisa, who lives along a riverbank in Monterrey.
Texas residents might skirt a direct hit from the storm, but residents of the lower Rio Grande Valley were warned they could receive 2 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 15 inches in isolated pockets. Isolated tornadoes were possible in far southern Texas Tuesday night and in southern and south-central Texas on Wednesday.
Southern Texas and northeastern Mexico were already seeing heavy rainfall and wind gusts from the storm's outer rain bands Tuesday evening.
Some residents of South Padre Island prepared for Emily's approach by boarding up windows of stores and gathering sand bags. Families living in RV parks in the area were ordered to evacuate Tuesday.
"The worst-case scenario is if the hurricane would turn north on us," said Dan Quandt, an official for the island's local government.
Brownsville Mayor Eddie Trevino said city officials had been preparing for the storm's arrival for several days.
"We've been doing everything," he said. "Preparing sandbags, cleaning drainage. ... We've been advising people in low-lying areas to get to higher ground."
City spokesman Bill Young said three shelters were open in Brownsville. But Trevino said he did not plan on ordering an evacuation, partly due to road construction in the area.
So far, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has been particularly active, with five named storms developing in the first six weeks. Two of those -- Emily and Dennis -- developed into major hurricanes.
Dennis killed more than three dozen people and caused extensive damage in Cuba and the northern U.S. Gulf Coast.
Emily has so far been blamed for five deaths on the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Jamaica.
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