Houston – The tropical weather season revved up Thursday as the Atlantic’s first hurricane formed and quickly strengthened and as Tropical Storm Erin’s remnants soaked rain-weary Texas, snarling rush-hour traffic and killing at least two people.
Even as they fetched dozens of stranded drivers, authorities in Houston and San Antonio looked over their shoulders at Hurricane Dean, a Category 2 storm building in the Atlantic as it neared islands in the eastern Caribbean. Hurricane warnings were issued for some islands, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Thunderstorms from Erin brought 7 inches of rain to parts of San Antonio and Houston, where one person died and another was injured when the roof of a storage unit outside a grocery store collapsed, Fire Chief Omero Longoria said. The National Hurricane Center said some areas could get 10 inches of rain.
In San Antonio, a man was swept away after apparently getting out of his vehicle in floodwater, a police spokeswoman said.
More rain was moving in Thursday from the Gulf of Mexico – 3 to 6 inches was forecast for Thursday night – which authorities found particularly worrisome because the ground was saturated.
Summer storms have poured record rainfall across Texas and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, with floods killing at least 18 people since mid-June.
In the Atlantic, Dean’s top sustained winds late in the day were 100 mph, up from 75 mph earlier. It was a Category 2 storm and was centered about 210 miles east-northeast of Barbados and expected to approach the Lesser Antilles today.
“It’s so far out, but it’s not too early to start preparing,” said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
The Caribbean islands of Dominica and St. Lucia issued hurricane warnings as Dean approached. Hurricane watches were issued for Martinique and Guadeloupe and its dependencies.
