Alberto, the first named tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was downgraded to a tropical depression late Thursday morning after bringing heavy rains and flooding to parts of Mexico and Texas.
At least three deaths have been blamed on the storm, which made landfall over Mexico earlier Thursday. It will continue to move west before dissipating later in the day or on Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
As of 10:30 a.m. ET, the tropical depression was about 95 miles west of Tampico, Mexico, and 280 miles southwest of Brownsville, Texas. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour, down from earlier Thursday when the maximum sustained winds were 50 miles per hour. The storm is moving west at about 18 miles per hour.
There remains a threat for a “tornado or two across parts of Deep South Texas.”
All tropical storm warnings associated with Alber to have been discontinued, the NHC said, but flooding and rain continues on both sides of the border. About another inch of rain is forecast for the Texas coast, while gusty winds are starting to subside. Northern Mexico may see another 5 to 10 inches of rain Thursday, with the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas seeing up to 20 inches of rain in total.
That “will likely produce considerable flash and urban flooding along with new and renewed river flooding. Mudslides are also possible in areas of higher terrain across northeast Mexico,” the hurricane center said.
Mexican authorities downplayed the risk posed by Alberto and instead pinned their hopes on its ability to ease the parched region’s water needs.
“The (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk,” said Tamaulipas state Secretary of Hydrological Resources Raúl Quiroga Álvarez during a news conference late Wednesday. Instead, he suggested people greet Alberto happily. “This is what we’ve been (hoping) for for eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”
Much of Mexico has been suffering under severe drought conditions, with northern Mexico especially hard hit. Quiroga noted that the state’s reservoirs were low and Mexico owed the United States a massive water debt in their shared use of the Rio Grande.
“This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” he said.
But in nearby Nuevo Leon state, civil protection authorities reported three deaths linked to Alberto’s rains. They said one man died in the La Silla River in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and that two minors died from electric shocks in the municipality of Allende. Local media reported that the minors were riding a bicycle in the rain.
Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel García wrote on his account on social media platform X that metro and public transportation services would be suspended in Monterrey from Wednesday night until midday Thursday when Alberto has passes.
People in Mexico expressed hope for Alberto bringing rain.
Blanca Coronel Moral, a resident of Tampico, ventured out to the city’s waterfront Wednesday to await Alberto’s arrival.
“We have been needing this water that we’re now getting, thank God. Let’s hope that we only get water,” said Coronel Moral. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”
Authorities closed schools for the remainder of the week in Tamaulipas since there could be localized flooding.