Hurricane Dolly lashes south Texas

South Padre Island bears brunt of storm; Weakens after striking land

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Hurricane Dolly barreled into South Texas yesterday, lashing the coast with winds up to 100 miles per hour and dumping heavy rain that threatened to flood low-lying areas but spared levees along the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

Authorities had feared the first hurricane to hit the United States since last September could produce up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, possibly breaching levees in the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley. But shortly before coming ashore, the Category 2 storm meandered 35 miles north of the border, veering away from the flood walls.

"The levees are holding up just fine," said Johnny Cavazos, emergency coordinator for Cameron County. "There is no indication right now that they are going to crest."

Dolly was downgraded to a tropical storm late last night, but authorities in Texas and Mexico were still watching for flooding. About 5,000 people went to public shelters in three Texas counties hit hardest by the storm. At least 50,000 customers were left without power.

Most of the destruction from wind was on the resort island of South Padre Island, where the hurricane's center came ashore and knocked out power to thousands of homes, ripped off roofs, and smashed windows.

Roads and yards were strewn with toppled trees, fences, power poles, and streetlights. Business signs rolled around the streets like tumbleweeds. The causeway linking the island to the mainland was closed.

A 17-year-old youth fell from a seventh-story balcony, injuring his head, breaking his hip, and fracturing his leg. The boy was being treated at an island fire station. It was not immediately known whether the accident was directly caused by the storm.

The roof of an apartment complex on South Padre Island partially collapsed, but residents said they didn't believe anybody was injured.

"I thought it was just a big clap of thunder, [then] saw this stuff flying around and it's the roof," said Buck Dopp, who lives in a ground-floor apartment.

Between 5 and 12 inches of rain had fallen in Brownsville's Cameron County by yesterday evening and another 3 to 7 inches was expected during the night, according to the National Weather Service. Estimates in Laguna Vista and Bayview reached 12 inches.

Small communities just north of Brownsville were hit by high winds and flooded with murky waters, including low-lying colonias: small villages of immigrants who live without sewer and water service. A family of eight had to be rescued by sheriff's deputies when floodwaters surrounded their home.

In Mexico, soldiers made a last-minute attempt to rescue people at the mouth of the Rio Grande, using an inflatable raft to retrieve at least one family trapped in their home. Many people farther inland refused to go to government shelters.

"These are people who did not want to leave, and now they are in trouble," said Leticia Montalvo, a spokeswoman for the town of Matamoros, just across the river from Brownsville.

Dolly spawned thunderstorms as far away as Houston, 400 miles up the coast. Tornado watches were in effect for many coastal counties between Corpus Christi and Houston.

In Mexico, a 102-year-old woman and seven family members fled their wooden shack in the fishing community of Higuerilla and spent the night at a shelter in Matamoros.

"I don't know if my poor house will withstand the rain and wind," Maria Miguel said.

Many of those who headed north to escape the storm were stopped at inland Border Patrol checkpoints, where agents opened extra lanes so they could check documentation. At one checkpoint on US Route 77, smugglers were caught with 5,000 to 8,000 pounds of marijuana.

The last hurricane to hit the United States was the fast-forming Humberto, which came ashore in South Texas last September. Dolly is the 26th hurricane to make landfall in the United States in July since record keeping started in 1851, according to US researchers.

The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September. So far this year, there have been four named storms, two of which became hurricanes.