Hurricane Humberto blasted across south-east Texas on Thursday as it headed toward Louisiana, packing strong winds and triggering fears of flooding, United States forecasters said.
Humberto emerged as a tropical storm over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and suddenly mushroomed into a hurricane moments before slamming ashore on the Texas coast early on Thursday, packing winds as strong as 135km/h.
The category-one hurricane — the lowest strength on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale — crawled across Texas toward neighbouring Louisiana at 13km/h, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Humberto is the third hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic storm season, following two category-five storms that slammed Mexico and Central America in August and earlier this month.
The National Weather Service issued flash-flood warnings in parts of Texas and Louisiana. The hurricane centre warned the storm could also produce isolated tornadoes.
Humberto was expected to dump 12,5cm to 25cm of rain across southern states including Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, whose state still has fresh memories from the deadly Hurricane Katrina of 2005, had already declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure on Wednesday.
Blanco warned that significant rainfall that was expected in south-west Louisiana could lead to flooding. ”I also want our people to be prepared, as this storm serves as another reminder of how quickly storms can form,” she said in a statement. ”Especially now, in the height of hurricane season, we must all be personally ready to act.”
In Texas, Governor Rick Perry activated search-and-rescue teams, including six Blackhawk helicopters, 50 military vehicles and 200 soldiers. A hurricane warning was issued from east of High Island to the town of Cameron in the neighbouring state of Louisiana.
Humberto was expected to weaken as it moves further inland over the next 24 hours, the National Hurricane Centre said in its latest bulletin at 9am GMT.
Meanwhile, a new tropical storm could be born in the Atlantic as a tropical depression formed on Wednesday 1 495km east of the Lesser Antilles.
Central America and Mexico were hit by two massive category-five hurricanes in the past several weeks, leaving more than 130 people dead in the region.
Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua earlier this month with winds of up to 260km/h, killing more than 100 people. In August, Hurricane Dean left about 30 people dead after it stormed into Mexico’s Caribbean coast. — Sapa-AFP