Tropical Storm Alberto weakens after rains claim four lives

TAMPICO, Mexico (AP) — Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the season, weakened Thursday as it moved inland over northeastern Mexico after bringing heavy rains to parts of the country. dried out region and at least four dead.

By the afternoon, Alberto’s remains were scattered throughout central Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.

However, meteorologists said heavy rains of several inches would fall in the interior of the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. In southern Texas, rains are expected to ease on Thursday.

Immediately after the storm made landfall in Tampico, there was initial disappointment over the lack of rainfall. There were isolated showers until the early hours of the morning, and the sun even broke through at times.

“We were hoping it would come because the water is so badly needed here, but as far as I know it went somewhere else,” said Tampico resident Marta Alicia Hernández.

But inland, heavy rains caused damage in the neighboring states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz.

There, civil protection authorities reported four deaths linked to Alberto’s rains. They said a 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. Local media reported the minors were riding bicycles in the rain.

A fourth man in the municipality of El Carmen, Nuevo Leon, was electrocuted while trying to repair power lines in the rain, civil protection officials said.

In addition, a section of an important highway connecting Monterrey and Saltillo was washed away.

The governor of Nuevo Leon, Samuel García, wrote on his account on the social media platform X that the subway and public transport in Monterrey would be suspended from Wednesday night to Thursday noon, following Alberto’s death.

Further south in the state of Veracruz, 24 families were left homeless in the state capital of Xalapa after a retaining wall on three buildings collapsed following days of heavy rain.

At dawn, residents heard a deafening noise and the ground began to move.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” said Pedro Luna Sánchez, who has owned an apartment in one of the buildings for 26 years. “I looked out the window and saw my neighbor calling for help. When I looked closer, I saw that the wall was on top of the buildings.”

All residents were able to get to safety.

Alberto had issued tropical storm warnings for much of the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Veracruz. The storm made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h.

In the state of Tamaulipas, where Alberto made landfall, schools were closed and remained closed until Friday. Emergency shelters were prepared across the state to accommodate residents trying to escape the floods.

Rainfall of between 5 and 10 inches (13 and 25 centimeters) was expected in some parts of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, with even higher amounts possible in isolated areas, according to the hurricane center. Some higher elevation areas of Mexico could see up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain, which could lead to landslides and flash floods, particularly in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

Alberto also brought rain and flooding to the Texas coast.

The US Weather Service said the greatest threat to the southern Texas coast is flooding from excessive rain. Areas along the Texas On Wednesday, some roads along the coast were flooded and dangerous rip currents occurred. Waterspouts were spotted off the coast.

The mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas, planned to declare a disaster after parts of the city were drenched by up to 6 inches of rain on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said. Residents reported water and wind damage, and canals were damaged on the north side of Padre Island, Brianna Sandoval said Thursday.

Two people were rescued from vehicles stuck on flooded roads, and a downed power line forced highway traffic to be diverted for part of the morning. A flood warning remained in effect for the city.

Bert Dagnon, who closed his Salt Water Gift Shop in Galveston on Wednesday out of caution, said there was not as much rain as predicted and other than flooding in low-lying areas, there was little impact in the region.

“I suspect everyone will clean up, mop up and move on,” he said Thursday, adding that he had already had customers when skies turned partly sunny at the beach.

In Surfside Beach, a Texas city on a barrier island, a storm surge early Thursday left some damaged streets and lots of debris but “very little damage” to mostly elevated buildings, Mayor Gregg Bisso said.

By late morning, the tide had subsided and “you can almost move again now,” he said. According to Bisso, there are around 800 full-time residents on the island, and up to 10,000 holidaymakers come in the summer.

Octavio González, who lives in Tampico, was visibly disappointed by the lack of rain from Alberto.

“Very little water has fallen,” he said. “We are on this south side of Tamaulipas, where there is a great drought. And the truth is that we have a lot of hope for rain.”

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Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City and Alba Alemán in Xalapa, Mexico, contributed to this report.