New Orleans, Louisiana, July 1, (PRINTWORDS NEWS) As Hurricane Alex, the first hurricane of the season, downgraded to the category 2 storm, it struck parts of the Texas-Mexico border with torrential rain and heavy winds on Thursday. Flooded streets, ripped off roofs became a common sight in parts of Mexico with thousands of people fleeing the coastal areas to avoid nature’s fury. The extensive storm triggered massive waves that has posed a major hurdle to the oil spill clean up process along the Gulf of Mexico.
A relatively sparsely populated coast along the northern state of Tamaulipas was massively hit by the storm while heavy rains and winds lashed fishing villages along the coast. San Fernando’s Civil Protection and Fire Department official Abel Ramirez has revealed that five fishing villages which are inhabited by as many as 5,000 people has been evacuated and residents have been shifted to safer locations. The official further noted that given the presence of strong north winds, it would be too early to say whether the hurricane has passed the region completely.
Although Hurricane Alex has hit areas far away from the region worst effected by the BP oil spill, experts have reiterated that the booming and the cleaning operations is likely to be terminated due to the high waves whipped up by the storm. However, the attempts to plug the leak by drilling relief wells has however not been hampered by the torrential rains and storms.
Weather officials have stated that the hurricane season this year is going to be worst since the year 2005 when the successive Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma caused mayhem in the Gulf Coast by destroying oil rigs and refineries while reducing production significantly.
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