Tropical Storm Hermine threatens Texas-Mexico coast

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Authorities urged people to move to shelters while officials in Texas distributed sandbags and warned of flash floods as Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened and headed toward the northwestern Gulf coast yesterday.

Hermine was expected to make landfall around midnight just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, threatening to bring as much as a foot of rain to some areas battered by Hurricane Alex in June.

Remnant rains from Alex killed at least 12 people in flooding in Mexico.

Hermine "will briefly be over Mexico, and then we're expecting it to produce very heavy rainfall over south Texas," said Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center. "We're expecting widespread rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches with isolated amounts of a foot possible. Especially in the hilly and mountainous terrain that could cause life-threatening flash flooding."

The storm's winds strengthened to about 60 mph, and by yesterday afternoon the center was about 100 miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Tropical storm-force winds extended out up to 105 miles.

A hurricane watch was issued for the area from Rio San Fernando, Mexico, northward to Baffin Bay in Texas.

The cattle-ranching region, also one the most dangerous areas in Mexico's drug cartel wars, is where 72 migrants were killed two weeks ago. - AP