Tropical Storm Alberto Threatens Texas and Mexico

The first named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Alberto, formed over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening heavy rainfall and flooding for northeastern Mexico and parts of Texas over the next few days. The large and slowly strengthening storm system was located about 320 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas and 135 miles southeast of Tampico, moving toward the coast at around 9 mph.

Alberto packed maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, with tropical storm-force winds extending outward up to 460 miles from the center. Despite still being hours away from landfall, the storm's outer bands were already lashing coastal areas with heavy rain and high surf. In the Texas city of Surfside, south of Houston, nearly 4 inches of rain had fallen by early evening, forcing some residents to evacuate flooded areas where search teams rescued two women stranded in a submerged vehicle.  

Juneteenth celebrations in Galveston had to be rescheduled due to street flooding, while nearby Jamaica Beach was largely impassable. Tragically, in Mexico's Nuevo Leon state, a 15-year-old boy drowned after being swept away by a swollen river outside Monterrey amid Alberto's outer rainbands.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the entire Texas coast from the San Luis Pass south to the mouth of the Rio Grande river, as well as the northeastern Mexican coast from the Rio Grande to Tecolutla. Forecasters warned of potentially catastrophic flooding, with rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches expected across the region, and isolated amounts up to 20 inches possible in parts of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

This extreme rainfall threatens considerable flash flooding, urban inundations, renewed river flooding and life-threatening mudslides, especially across higher terrain of northeastern Mexico.