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MIAMI: Tropical Storm Hermine made landfall late Monday in far northeastern Mexico, threatening storm surges, tornadoes and mudslides in the US-Mexico border area, US forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Hermine made landfall around 8:30 pm (0130 GMT) along the coast of northeastern Mexico, about 40 miles (65 kilometres) south of Brownsville, Texas, and 105 miles (170 km) north-northeast of La Pesca, Mexico.
Hermine, the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was packing top sustained winds of 65 miles (100 km) per hour and moving toward the north-northwest at 14 miles (22 km) per hour.
The Mexican government issued a hurricane watch from Rio San Fernando to the mouth of the Rio Grande, on the US border. The watch extends as far north as Baffin Bay, Texas.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect on both sides of the border.
Forecasters said the system would dump between four and eight inches (10 to 20 centimetres) of rain on northeastern Mexico and south Texas, with up to 12 inches possible.
"These rainfall amounts may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially over the higher terrain of northeastern Mexico," the centre warned.
It said a storm surge of two to four feet (up to 1.2 metres) was also possible.
"Isolated tornadoes are possible along the lower and middle Texas coast beginning this evening and continuing overnight."
The track calls for the storm to move up into southern Texas by Tuesday and into central Texas on Wednesday.
Hermine is the latest storm to form after Hurricane Earl, which gained category four status at its height, whipped up heavy winds along the east coast of the United States and Canada.
Earl weakened dramatically after making landfall in Canada on Saturday as a category one hurricane but Nova Scotia Power said 80,000 homes were without electricity on Sunday.
-AFP/wk
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