Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall on the northeastern coast of Mexico as a tropical storm early Thursday, unleashing heavy rain, flooding and gusty winds, forecasters said. At least four people died in events related to the storm, which later weakened into a depression, officials and forecasters said.
The deaths were all in Nuevo León. A man received an electrical shock there while trying to make repairs to his house, Gov. Samuel García said in a televised interview Thursday.
A teenager was trapped by currents in a river and drowned after trying to recover a ball, Erik Cavazos, the director of civil protection in Nuevo León, told reporters earlier. Two children were electrocuted crossing a pond that was in contact with a live cable, he said.
The El Universal newspaper, citing local emergency authorities, reported that the child who drowned was 16 and the two others were 12.
By Thursday afternoon, Alberto was no longer considered a tropical cyclone, but the U.S. National Weather Service warned that the storm’s remnants would continue to produce “heavy rainfall over northeastern Mexico with life-threatening flooding and mudslides likely.” Rainfall totals of 20 inches were possible. Maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph, the service said.
Forecasters said ocean swells caused by the storm would continue to affect the Texas coast and northeastern Mexico through Friday, likely causing life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Flash floods and mudslides are a concern in the hills of Mexico as rain continues to fall.
Several coastal flooding warnings and watches were in effect through Friday evening along the southern Texas coast.
Rivers were rising in Mexico.
Mexico’s meteorological service had forecast torrential rains for the northern states of Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí for Thursday. Government workers set up shelters, and electricians were deployed to areas at risk of power outages.
The flow of two of the rivers that run through Nuevo León’s capital, Monterrey, had increased considerably in a matter of hours. By Thursday morning, civil protection authorities in Monterrey had reported traffic accidents and vehicles stranded on flooded streets.
Seemingly endless streams of brown water flooded some parts of Monterrey, an industrial boomtown home to several of Mexico’s largest companies, by Thursday afternoon.
The Santa Catarina River, reduced to a trickle some parts of the year, jumped its banks in different parts of the city — its force even sweeping away the lanes of some roadways.
All classes had been suspended and offices and factories were closed Thursday, the Nuevo León governor, Samuel García, said in a televised interview, adding: “We are right in the most critical stage.”
The public transportation system had been shut down, he later told reporters, except for residents who were stranded and needed to return home or head to a shelter.
Still, for some states in Mexico, the storm’s arrival was a welcome respite amid a water crisis and scorching heat waves.
“We are waiting for these rains, which are going to be very beneficial,” Luis Gerardo González, the Tamaulipas state civil protection coordinator, said in a radio interview Wednesday.
A disaster declaration was issued in Texas.
Before the storm, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced a severe-weather disaster declaration for 51 counties.
Alberto drenched areas near Rockport, a coastal city 30 miles north of Corpus Christi with up to 7 inches of rain, and prompted some counties near the border with Mexico to issue tornado warnings. No major injuries were reported Thursday. Scattered showers were still expected Thursday and the rest of the week, weather officials said.
The most jarring images of vehicles submerged under water and streets overrun by currents came from Surfside Beach, a retirement community of about 750 residents that sees its population grow to about 10,000 during its high summer season.
As of Thursday morning, many of the streets on the west end of the island were measuring about 3 feet of water, said Greg Bisso, the mayor of Surfside Beach. Most of the homes were spared major damage because the city has long required new dwellings to be built 14 feet above sea level.
“When you live on a barrier island, this is what you have to deal with,” Bisso said. “You know, we’re surrounded by water.”
