Hurricane Dolly strengthened on Wednesday as it neared southern Texas, and was expected to lash low-lying areas on the United Sates-Mexico border with winds of 160km/h and torrential rain when it comes ashore at about midday local time.
The second hurricane of 2008 Atlantic storm season gathered strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was now a category-two hurricane, the second level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
At 3pm GMT, Dolly was about 50km east-northeast of the border town of Brownsville, Texas, where it was due to come ashore.
The storm’s predicted landfall and strength were unlikely to threaten offshore drilling rigs and production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. US crude oil prices hit six-week lows on Tuesday and fell further on Wednesday to below $126 a barrel.
The hurricane centre issued a hurricane warning for the southern Texas coast as far north as Corpus Christi.
Category three to five storms are considered the most dangerous but a category-two hurricane is still capable of causing damage to poorly built dwellings such as mobile homes.
The seaport serving Corpus Christi, a major US oil refining centre, was closed to ship traffic as a precaution.
The hurricane centre said Dolly could dump 38cm of rain on low-lying areas in South Texas and north-eastern Mexico in coming days.
That has spurred concerns that torrential rains could overcome levees holding back the Rio Grande River and cause widespread flooding.
Texas Governor Rick Perry put 1 200 National Guard troops on alert and issued a disaster declaration for 14 low-lying counties. State officials said they would not order mandatory evacuations unless Dolly reached category three, with wind speeds of more than 178km/h.
About 250 buses stood by in the inland city of San Antonio to evacuate coastal residents if needed. — Reuters