Hurricane Alex Spawns Tornadoes; Could've Been Stronger
Now downgraded to a tropical storm, Alex grew fast in run-up to landfall.
Hurricane Alex, however, did not push spilled oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster beyond the coastlines along the Gulf of Mexico, as had been feared. (See "Hurricane Could Push Spilled Gulf Oil Into New Orleans.")
And, once over land, the hurricane rapidly weakened and was downgraded to tropical storm Alex.
Hurricane Alex made landfall around 9 p.m. CT at the village of Soto La Marina, about a hundred miles (160 kilometers) south of Brownsville, Texas. (See Gulf of Mexico map.)
Flash flooding had been reported where the storm came ashore, said William Wagner III, president of Early Alert, a private emergency management consulting firm in Palm City, Florida.
"We got reports that a lot of fishing villages were hit
