JAKARTA - Tropical Storm Alberto, the first storm to be named in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, was formed in the western Gulf of Mexico, the US National Storm Center (NHC) said on Wednesday, which carried coastal flooding on the southern coast of the US.
The "very big" storm is located about 180 miles (290 km) east of Tampico, Mexico, with a maximum wind speed of 40 mph (65 kph), a weather forecaster headquartered in Miami said.
Hurricane Alberto is likely to disappear in Mexico as early as Thursday night, after bringing heavy rains, coastal flooding and strong winds from the center along northeastern Mexico and the southern coast of Texas.
The NHC warns of possible "life-threatening floods and landslides" in northeastern Mexico, including Monterrey's third-largest city located in Nuevo Leon State.
"We are not ruling out the possibility of Tropical Storm Alberto could rise to a 1-category storm", said Alejandra Mendez, who heads Mexico's SMN national meteorological service, at a press conference, citing water temperatures above 31$C.
The storm has reached a sustained wind speed of at least 119 kilometers per hour.
Mendez added that the storm interacted with formations in the Pacific, which together will bring rain in much of Central America, an area that is still facing heavy rains that left about 11 people dead in El Salvador over the weekend, due to landslides and traffic accidents.
The storm has amassed moisture from the Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, Mendez said, will bring much-needed rain across much of Mexico, which has suffered a prolonged drought and has caused the water discharge in dams to plummet.
Several dams, especially in Tamaulipas state in the northeast, are only filled with 8 percent.
Meanwhile, Nuevo State Governor Leon Samuel Garcia said people should avoid leaving their homes when it rains and workers are ready to address possible impacts on power grids, water and waste disposal systems.
In Louisiana, United States, videos show flooded coastal cities and water hitting the sea wall. While in Tamaulipas, videos shared on social media showed gray skies as weather forecasters warned Alberto could carry waves as high as 20 feet (6 meters).
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Across the Gulf on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, local news media recorded strong winds and heavy rains, after authorities recorded 192 millimeters of rain in the last day.
The NHC estimates "moderate coastal flooding" along the Texas coast through Thursday, while Mexican weather forecasters expect further weekend rain in the south from other formations over the Caribbean.
Previously, weather forecasters had warned that this year's Atlantic hurricane season might be very active due to the impact of the La Nina weather pattern and warmer seawater.
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