Officials Fear Dolly Could Break Rio Grande Levees

McALLEN, Texas (AP) – Coastal officials worried Tuesday that Tropical Storm 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 Tuesday 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 Tuesday. “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 (Tuesday) 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.

In neighboring inland Hidalgo County, officials put out a call for volunteers to man five shelters that it planned to open for residents fleeing coastal counties.

Those who planned to ride out the storm shopped for supplies at a Wal-Mart in Edinburg, 15 miles from the Mexican border. But the store didn’t have the wall-to-wall shoppers like the night before. Kerri Urdaz, 31, of McAllen loaded ice, water and batteries into her car, while her 2-year-old daughter Claire watched from the shopping cart.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Urdaz said of the last-minute shopping. “That’s why we woke up and came in early before the rush.”

Jesus Gil was lifting large coolers into the back of his pickup truck and had bought flashlights and batteries, bracing for the storm at both work and home.

“I’m just trying to be prepared,” said Gil, who was in Houston in 2005 for the Hurricane Rita evacuation. He doesn’t plan to leave this time, but bought extra gas just in case.

Maj. Jose Rivera of the Texas Army National Guard said troops were preparing at armories in Houston, Austin and San Antonio. Gov. Rick Perry called up 1,200 troops to help and issued the disaster declaration in the South Texas counties.