Officials fear Hurricane Dolly could break Rio Grande levees
McAllen, Texas -- Coastal officials worried today that Hurricane Dolly may bring so much rain that flooding could break through the levees holding back the Rio Grande.
Officials urged residents to move away from the levees because if Dolly continues to follow the same path as 1967's Hurricane Beulah, "the levees are not going to hold that much water," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.
Forecasters say Dolly was expected to dump 15 to 20 inches of rain and bring coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal high tide levels.
Hurricane warnings were in effect from Brownsville north to Corpus Christi, and in Mexico, from Rio San Fernando north to the U.S. border. Tropical storm warnings were issued for surrounding areas and the governor has declared 14 counties disaster areas, allowing state resources to be used to send equipment and emergency workers needed to the areas in the storm's path.
Forecasters said Dolly was expected to make land late today or early Wednesday as a hurricane with sustained winds of 74 to 95 mph. The storm combined with levees that have deteriorated in the 41 years since Beulah swept up the Rio Grande pose a major flooding threat to low-lying counties along the border. Beulah spawned more than 100 tornadoes across Texas and dumped 36 inches of rain in some parts of South Texas, killing 58 people and causing more than $1 billion damage.
"We could have a triple-decker problem here," Cavazos told a meeting of more than 100 county and local officials. "We believe that those [levees] will be breached if it continues on the same track. So please stay away from those levees."
Much of the damage to New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina was from levee breaks instead of wind. Levee breaches in the Midwest made river flooding far more damaging than it would have been earlier this summer.
People in the warning areas have little time left to complete their preparations, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
"They need to get that done like now. Weather conditions will be deteriorating rapidly later this afternoon and tonight," he said.
Lines grew at centers giving out sandbags in the Rio Grande Valley. In Brownsville, a utility began draining its resacas -- ponds and lakes formed by old bends in the Rio Grande -- last week to prepare for rain.
