Residents here and elsewhere along the south Texas Gulf Coast region spent Sunday morning either bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Bret or fleeing the area. Roads and highways leading out of Corpus Christi and surrounding communities were packed with vehicles and most stores, businesses and homes were boarded shut. The heart of the storm passed across South Padre Island south of Kingsville. Very strong winds raked the popular vacation area, and a large storm surge inundated low-lying regions. More worrisome to state and regional authorities was the massive amounts of rain expected as the storm pushed inland.
Residents board their homes and businesses in preparation for the storm.
By early Monday morning, Bret had been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Authorities expected its winds to dissipate further during the day, removing Bret from hurricane status. However, as much as 28 inches of rain already had fallen across some parts of south Texas, and officials worried that the storm could drop an additional 20 inches or more before it broke apart over south Texas and Mexico later in the week. We'll be dealing with this storm in one way or another for the next several days. Last year, Tropical Storm Charley blasted south Texas and parts of Mexico with enormous amounts of rain that led to flooding and 19 deaths in the Del Rio area.