Hurricane Tropical As the first named storm of the season, Alberto tore into northeast Mexico early on Thursday, bringing with it heavy rains that claimed the lives of at least three people but also offered hope to an area that had been suffering from an extended, severe drought.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicts that the storm will arrive on Mexico’s Gulf coast on Thursday morning, quickly weaken over land, and then pass later in the day.
Alberto was bringing rain to both sides of the border, up much of the coast of south Texas and down to the state of Veracruz in Mexico.
According to the storm center, isolated totals of up to 10 inches of rain are likely in certain parts of the Texas coast. Up to 20 inches may fall in some higher areas of Mexico; this could cause flash flooding and mudslides, particularly in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.
The Mexican government played down the danger that Alberto might represent and instead focused on how it might lessen the region’s thirst for water.
Raúl Quiroga Álvarez, the state secretary of hydrological resources for Tamaulipas, stated at a news conference late on Wednesday that “the (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk.” Rather, he proposed that everyone give Alberto a warm greeting. “We have been (hoping) for this for the past eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”
There has been a severe drought affecting most of Mexico, with the north being particularly badly affected. Quiroga pointed out that the state had low reservoirs and that Mexico owed the US a significant amount of water for sharing the Rio Grande.
“This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” remarked the governor.
However, three fatalities related to Alberto’s rains were recorded by civil protection officials in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. The state capital of Monterrey reported the death of a man in the La Silla River, and the municipality of Allende reported the deaths of two youngsters from electric shocks. The kids were said to be riding bicycles in the rain by the local media.
The governor of Nuevo Leon, Samuel García, said on his social media account on platform X that metro and public transportation services in Monterrey will be suspended on Wednesday night until Thursday at noon, when Alberto has gone.
People in Mexico said they were hoping Alberto would bring rain.
Tampico resident Blanca Coronel Moral went to the city’s harbor on Wednesday to wait for Alberto.
“Thank God, we’ve been in need of this water for a while. “Hopefully, all we receive is water,” Coronel Moral remarked. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”
Tamaulipas schools were shuttered by the authorities for the rest of the week due to the possibility of localized flooding.
