Hurricane Alex churned westward through the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday, far from oil spill cleanup efforts but on a collision course with Mexico and the southern Texas coastline.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded the storm to a Category 1 hurricane _ the least powerful type _ Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, it sustained winds of 80 mph (129 kph). Alex became the first June hurricane in the Atlantic since 1995, the center said.
Bands of intense rain began lashing deep south Texas and northeast Mexico Wednesday morning as Alex slowed its movement to 7 mph (11 kph). The National Weather Service pushed Alex's landfall back to late Wednesday night or early Thursday and raised the possibility that it would make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane.
Texas residents had been preparing for the storm for days, readying their homes and businesses and stocking up on household essentials. But the storm was expected to deal only a glancing blow to the state and to make landfall Wednesday evening south of Matamoros, Mexico, and some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Brownsville.
The storm was expected to pack winds of at least 90 mph (145 kph) when it comes ashore, but those could increase to as much as 110 mph (177 kph) if it strengthened to a Category 2.
As of 7 a.m. CDT Wednesday (1200 GMT), Alex was 220 miles (355 kilometers) southeast of Brownsville moving west-northwest at about 7 mph (11 kph), with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (129 kph).
Oil rigs and platforms in the path of the storm's outer bands were evacuated, and President Barack Obama issued a pre-emptive federal disaster declaration for southern Texas counties late Tuesday.
The three oil rigs and 28 platforms evacuated are not part of the Gulf oil spill response. Alex is projected to stay far away from the spill zone and not affect recovery efforts, but tall waves kicked up by the farthest reaches of Alex did toss oil-soaking boom around the water.
Texas also watched Alex's outer bands warily. Alex was expected to bring torrential rains to a Rio Grande delta region that is ill suited _ both economically and geographically _ to handle it.
Passing showers Tuesday quickly pooled along parts of downtown streets in Brownsville and Matamoros, a worrisome sign with Alex expected to dump eight to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the region and as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) in isolated areas.
In Matamoros, cab driver Alfonso Lopez said he worried that that people would wait until the last minute to take the storm seriously.
"A lot of people trust too much that it won't be very bad or it will change course," he said.
In Cameron County, one of the poorest areas of the U.S. and Texas' southernmost point, Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said he would wait to make his city's emergency declaration in part because the city is cash strapped and he did not want to start paying city workers extra before absolutely necessary.
In Matamoros, government workers stuck duct-tape in X's across the windows Tuesday of the immigration office at the main downtown bridge. Trucks cruised slowly down residential streets, replacing people's large drinking water jugs and cars packed supermarket parking lots.
Matamoros Civil Protection Director Saul Hernandez said they would begin evacuating about 2,500 people from coastal areas east of the city Wednesday morning. But Hernandez said his real concern was the 13,000 families in 95 of the city's low-lying colonias, unincorporated areas where residents frequently have no public utilities or city services.
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Weber reported from South Padre Island, Texas. Associated Press Writer April Castro in Austin contributed to this report.
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