Cat. 4 storm 'hits' Manatee County

Photo by Tiffany Tompkins-Condie

MANATEE — Using the premise that Manatee County just experienced a direct hit from a major hurricane, more than 100 people from various public agencies and private service organizations participated Thursday in an exercise to develop a long-term recovery plan.

The all-day exercise presented a scenario of the fictitious Hurricane Edward with sustained Category 5 winds of 160 mph pushing a storm surge of 15 feet over Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island.

As the hurricane comes ashore at Category 4 strength, the force of the 145 mph winds and the storm surge wipe out most of the barrier islands, even creating breaches to the Sarasota Bay and leaving very few structures and roads in tact.

The elected officials of most of the government entities, their department chiefs and staff, law enforcement and fire department officials, members of the U.S. Coast Guard, some state agency officials, along with several people from public service organizations, such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and United Way, were assigned to specific teams, called Emergency Support Functions.

Having drilled previously on evacuation and immediate response to a disaster, Thursday’s exercise began on the seventh day after the storm struck, and asked participants what their team needed to do to get the county back to normal.

Read more in Thursday's edition of the Herald.

-- Carl Mario Nudi

Find a photo gallery from the drill here.

Depression fails to strengthen, dumps plenty of rain

ABOVE: Tony Medina removes belongings from his father-in-law's home Thursday as the Rio Grande floods the Dellwood neighborhood in Laredo, Texas. (AP Photo/San Antonio Express-News, Edward A. Ornelas)

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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

Tropical Depression Two forms

The second tropical depression of the Atlantic season has formed Wednesday over the western Gulf of Mexico, according to an 11 p.m. advisory from the National Weather Service.


Tropical Depression Two maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and is moving northwest at 14 mph. It is about 265 east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the Texas coast, south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

The system is expected to make landfall near the Texas-Mexico border Thursday afternoon or early evening, Rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches are expected with isolated totals up to 10 inches.

Second Atlantic tropical system out there

A week after Hurricane Alex slammed onshore, a new tropical system appears to be aiming at South Texas and northeastern Mexico by Thursday, according to AccuWeather reports. The next tropical storm in the Atlantic will be "Bonnie."

It's not tracking anywhere near the oil spill area, but the system still threatens to disrupt cleanup and containment efforts in the northern Gulf and could lead to flooding along the Texas coast.

The system has just exited the northern Yucatan Peninsula, and reportedly is disorganized. As it heads northwest, it could strengthen into the the second tropical depression or tropical storm of the season by midday Thursday.

Hurricane Center: 'Medium' chance storm turns into tropical storm

There was a 30 percent chance that a low pressure system producing cloudiness and thunderstorms in the northwest Caribbean Sea and southwest Gulf of Mexico would turn into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In a statement released at 2 p.m. EDT, the Hurricane Center said that regardless of development, the system would be causing heavy rains and gusty winds over the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and western Cuba.

The next tropical storm or hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin will be named, "Bonnie."

A map showing projected paths for the system had it heading towards various spots on the Texas coast.

Hurricane Center watching low-pressure systems in Gulf, Caribbean

They are just area of low pressure, but this is hurricane season so the National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye on two weather systems, one in the Gulf of Mexico and the other in the western Caribbean Sea, currently listed as having "low" chances of turning into the next tropical storm or hurricane.

Get the details about the systems here.

Alex, a day later

Nearly 24 hours after it made landfall on the coast of Mexico as a strong Category 2 hurricane, Alex was downgraded to a tropical depression with winds of just 30 mph, according to the 11 p.m. update from the National Weather Service.

The remnants of Alex, which dissipated over the mountains of central Mexico, are still expected to dump several inches of rain.

Here are some of the headlines of Alex, courtesy of the Associated Press:

• Hurricane Alex ripped off roofs, caused severe flooding and forced thousands of people to flee coastal fishing villages as it hit land Wednesday evening in the border state of Tamaulipas. Power and telephone service were down in several towns and cities.
• The dry Santa Catarina river that cuts through Monterrey roared to life, sweeping away cars and parts of rickety, wooden homes built along its path.
• One man died when he was caught by a torrent of water along a six-lane highway. Another man was found drowned by the side of a creek.
• There were reports of 16 inches of rain in some areas of Mexico by Thursday night.
• Raging winds knocked down hundreds of trees, telephone posts and traffic lights in the Matamoros area and farther south along Mexico's northern Gulf coast. Power and telephone service was out in San Fernando, a town near where Alex made landfall, and in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria.
• The Mexican Navy reported it had rescued seven people Wednesday from a fishing boat that ran aground on the remote, low-lying Gulf island of Cayo Nuevo, about 130 miles off the Mexican coast, amid high waves and heavy rain. The fishermen had to be pulled off the key by rescue divers.
• Alex whipped up high waves that frustrated oil-spill cleanup efforts on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico and delivered tar balls and globs of crude onto already soiled beaches.