Mexico Hit by Hurricane Alex Killing 3, Spawning 2 Tornadoes in Texas, Waves Sending Oil onto Beaches

Overnight hurricane Alex made landfall in northeastern Mexico with winds of 105 mph. Alex spawned 2 tornado's in Texas. Tamaulipas reported power outages. 14 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in Brownsville Texas. When Alex hit Mexico, roofs were ripped off homes and streets were flooding which had many evacuated to storm shelters. Alex is the first hurricane of the season and it looks to be a busy hurricane season.

Hurricane Alex has claimed at least three lives, including a young 5-year-old child in Mexico. As of now, there have been no reports of injuries or deaths in Texas from Alex. The US National Hurricane Center said, "Alex was pushing inland early Thursday at 12 mph (19 kph) but had weakened to a category 1 storm and was expected to weaken further and dissipate within 24 to 36 hours. By 4 a.m. CDT (0900 GMT), it was located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, and 160 miles (260 kilometers) southwest of Brownsville. It had sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph). Winds have lessened; the major problem was likely to become heavy rainfall." Hurricane Alex has no been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Hurricane Alex sent waves across the Gulf of Mexico and sending oil onto beaches in four different states. Chad Meyers CNN meteorologist said, "Residual effects from the storm could prohibit skimming and burning of oil in the gulf at least until Saturday or Sunday. Winds were 15 to 20 mph at the spill site Wednesday, producing waves 6 to 8 feet high". With waves this high, it is impossible to collect oil instead of water. While the efforts to collect oil came to a halt, efforts in the well drilling continued and are on track for August.

Clean up crews are worried about time lost during the storm and the impact it could do. Phil Ramon disaster management consultant in Belle Chasse, Louisiana said, "If you have to move all this equipment out and then back in again, how much time is lost there?" Bill Sigler stated, "We are getting out of the storm right now, but we will be back."

US government officials estimate "35,000 barrels (1.47 million gallons/5.56 million liters) to 60,000 barrels (2.5 gallons/9.5 million liters) are gushing from the blown out well each day. " The containment systems in place now handle only 28,000 barrels on a daily basis. With a new addition, it could contain 53,000.