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A rain-packed Tropical Depression Two collided with the Texas-Mexico border region Thursday, posing a new threat to cities already struggling with floods along the Rio Grande and its tributaries thanks to last week's Hurricane Alex.
Police in Laredo, Texas, were evacuating people in low-lying areas as the rain-swollen Rio Grande rose to more than 30 feet above flood stage and forced closure of two bridges linking Mexico and the United States. Early reports indicated only minor flooding in homes near the Rio Grande, but the water was still rising near downtown, where the river was to crest Thursday evening.
National Guard troops arrived Thursday to help with evacuations.
Tens of thousands of people already had been forced from their homes in Mexican towns as officials dumped torrents of water into flood-swollen rivers to avoid the risk of dams overflowing out of control due to Alex and its aftermath.
Humberto Moreira, the governor of the border state of Coahuila, said more than 20,000 homes had been flooded in his state alone, and about 80,000 people had "lost all of their furniture."
Gov. Eugenio Hernandez of the border state of Tamaulipas reported the first fatality there; telling an emergency evaluation meeting attended by President Felipe Calderon in the border city of Matamoros that the victim tried to cross a flooded road.
Tropical Depression Two made landfall at South Padre Island late Thursday morning and was expected to dump four to eight inches of rain across the area, with as much as 10 inches in some parts, said the National Weather Service. That rain comes on top of the five to seven inches deposited by Alex.
The rain, saturated ground, swollen rivers and releases from dams upstream have experts closely watching the Rio Grande.
Alfredo Vega, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service focusing on hydrology, said the main flooding concern for the lower Rio Grande Valley was Rio Grande City. The river was already at 49 feet and expected to rise to 52 feet by Saturday, which would take it very close to the level where it causes area flooding by backing up streams that normally feed it.
Hurricane Alex, unusually water-heavy, devastated the major Mexican city of Monterrey, and more than 100,000 people were still without water service this week. At least 12 people died in the flooding, according to Nuevo Leon state officials.
The hurricane's remnants caused rivers to rise across the area, forcing evacuations in Del Rio, Texas, some 110 miles upstream from Laredo, as well as in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
-- Associated Press
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