3 Atlantic Tropical Storms Nearing Hurricane Status

The 1999 hurricane season was in full swing Tuesday, with three tropical storms close to hurricane strength swirling in the Atlantic region.

Tropical storm Emily joined Dennis and Cindy, taking forecasters by surprise with her strength.

“I don’t understand what’s happening out there, but things are popping,” said Jerry Jarrell, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The government of the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning Tuesday for the Turks and Caicos islands and for the southeastern Bahamas as tropical storm Dennis neared the islands. The storm could threaten the eastern United States as early as Friday.

“We think Dennis will turn up the East Coast and with any luck will miss everything, but it will come close enough where we’ll worry about it,” Jarrell said. “In three days it can be on almost any of us.”

Emily had 65-mph winds--shy of hurricane strength. Forecasters had not even listed the storm as a depression before the advisory Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, far east in the Atlantic, tropical storm Cindy continued moving across the open ocean.

Up until this last week, there had only been one tropical storm, Arlene, in June.

A tropical storm carries winds of 39 to 73 mph. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when sustained winds reach 74 mph.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Hurricane Bret, now designated as a tropical disturbance, sloshed across southern Texas and northern Mexico on Tuesday, soaking the region with nearly a foot of rain after sending about 3,500 people to higher ground.

Flash flood warnings were in effect along the Rio Grande from Laredo upstream to Del Rio and about 40 miles east, as well as the San Antonio area.

Laredo, which had braced for serious flooding, appeared to be largely spared, although nearly 200 homes in low-lying areas were flooded with as much as 2 feet of water. Authorities were still concerned that the Rio Grande might rise because of rainfall upstream.

The most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in 20 years unwound from 140-mph winds offshore Sunday to 40-mph winds after it moved over land Monday.

The heavy rain was blamed for a traffic accident that killed four people Monday.

But they were the only deaths reported from the storm that crossed the coast Sunday evening midway between Corpus Christi (population 300,000) and Brownsville (132,000). Bret blew into the cattle country of Kenedy County, where cows outnumber people 60,000 to 458 and where damage was relatively light.

“You might call it the great escape. I think the city of Corpus Christi is very fortunate,” Mayor Loyd Neal said.

Southwest of Corpus Christi, a few dozen residents of the farm town of Driscoll huddled in a church as runoff from creeks and fields filled streets.

“Whenever someone drives up the driveway, waves hit the door,” Mary Sappington, 18, said Tuesday as the water began to level off near her grandmother’s home.

The National Weather Service said the storm could produce an additional 5 to 10 inches of rain along the Rio Grande watershed.

The Rio Grande city of Eagle Pass had street flooding Tuesday, and eight low-lying, rural roads were closed by water, authorities said.

“Water and water and water,” said Maverick County Judge Rocky Escobedo. “If we need to move and evacuate people, we’re ready.”

Bret whipped up plenty of trouble for south Texas cotton farmers, but citrus, vegetable and sugar cane growers welcomed the storm’s heavy rains.

The strong winds ripped cotton tufts from their protective locks and dragged the delicate crop through the dust. Then came rain that left entire fields submerged and washed away any hope for a decent market price.

“It made us sick,” said Bill Ordner, who ventured into his 1,500-acre cotton field southwest of Corpus Christi with a heavy heart after the storm blew through. He estimates the storm cost him $700,000; no official estimate was available on the financial loss suffered by the state’s cotton farmers.

Others were in a better mood. Some South Texas farmers, notably citrus growers, have been praying for rain to end months of drought.

Jay Johnson, farm manager for Plantation Produce, said his fields of bell peppers, cabbage, parsley and onions benefited from the rain.