Hurricane Dolly Makes Landfall
The first hurricane of the season made landfall on U.S. soil this afternoon, strengthening to a category 2 storm just before it hit the Texas coast. With sustained winds in excess of 100 mph the storm has the potential to cause considerable wind damage.
Heavy rains are expected to batter southern Texas and northern Mexico into Thursday with the threat of tornadoes likely. Between 15 and 20 inches of rain is expected threatening many areas with the danger of flash floods.
FEMA officials are also closely monitoring the levee systems along the Rio Grande although the type of massive flooding that devastated New Orleans is unlikely. The storm track is taking the heaviest rains north of the river and by the time it’s expected to move southwest over the area the storm will have lost considerable strength.
It will probably be a few more days before the we get an idea of the extent of the damage caused by the hurricane. A number of insurance companies are sending teams to the area to provide quicker response times to their policy holders.
Just into the second month of hurricane season, forecasters have predicted above average activity for the Atlantic Basin this year.
