Tropical Storm Dolly nears hurricane force

Forecasters issued a hurricane warning Tuesday as Tropical Storm Dolly churned over the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to land the US-Mexican border region.

The southern coast of Texas and northeast coast of Mexico were warned of hurricane conditions in the next 24 hours, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Packing 110 kilometer per hour (70 mph) winds, the storm was expected to grow into a hurricane later Tuesday or Wednesday, the center said in its latest update at 1800 GMT.

In order to be considered a hurricane, winds would have to reach 74 miles per hour (119 km/hr).

"Dolly not quite a hurricane yet," the center said, warning that "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion."

If Dolly keeps its current track, the core of the storm could hit southern Texas and near northeastern Mexico on Wednesday, the center said.

The eye of the storm was about 310 kilometers (195 miles) southeast of Brownsville, Texas.

The center predicted six to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of rain accumulation over south Texas and northeast Mexico in the coming days.

Isolated areas were expected to see as many as 15 inches of rain along with massive waves and flooding at the point of impact, the NHC said.

"Coastal storm surge flooding of four to six feet (1.2 meters-1.8 meters) above normal tide levels along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the north of where the center makes landfall."

Some, but not all oil drilling companies evacuated personnel from their offshore rigs as companies waited to see where the storm would make landfall, the Houston Chronicle reported.

World oil prices have crept up slightly, on fears that the storm could disrupt oil or gas production.

US energy major ExxonMobil has started evacuating "non-essential" personnel from some offshore oil production facilities expected to be in Dolly's path, but the company said there had been limited impact on production thus far.

Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell have also moved non-essential staff from their operations in the western part of the Gulf of Mexico.

"The first storm in always gets the adrenaline pumping, and it helps bring everybody into the mind set for hurricane season," said BP spokesman Tom Mueller, quoted by the Houston Chronicle.

BP has not evacuated workers nor halted production in the Gulf, the report said.

Around one quarter of US domestic crude production and 15 percent of natural gas output comes from the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Minerals Management Service.

Texas Governor Rick Perry activated 1,200 National Guard troops and other emergency crews in advance of the storm, US media reported.

The NHC has forecast an especially active 2008 weather season, saying there could be up to nine hurricanes and 12 tropical storms in the Atlantic region. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through the end of November.

Experts say most people living in hurricane-prone areas of the US coastline are ill-prepared for a disaster.

About 35 million people live in the most hurricane-prone US region, the southeastern coastline running from the states of North Carolina to Texas, according to the US Census Bureau.

Despite the risks, during the last half century more than 25 million people moved to these areas, with the majority -- 15 million -- living in Florida, the figures show.

© 2008 AFP

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