UPDATE 1:30 A.M..: Dolly fuels Tornado activity, will likely make landfall midday

McALLEN -- Hurricane Dolly is expected to continue to strengthen tonight, as the edge of the storm begins to move into the area.

Latest forecast indicate Dolly, officially still a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds near 80 miles per hour, will make landfall Wednesday just before noon. As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, the storm was located about 85 miles off the coast of Brownsville.

Over night, the storm's outer rain bands fueled sporadic funnel activity, prompting officials to issue a tornado watch for coastal areas effective through 10 a.m. Wednesday. At 1:30 a.m. rain bands were dumping moderate to heavy amounts of rain on areas in Kennedy County.

(View National Weather Service radar)

While early predictions had tropical storm force winds moving into the region late Tuesday night, the slowing of the storm has delayed the onset of those conditions.

"This event concerns us," McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said at an afternoon press conference. "Everyone is telling us it's coming right at us. The good news is we think it's a smaller storm."

Dolly is expected to produce 6 to 10 inches of rainfall accumulation over the next few days, with some areas getting as much as 15 inches.

At a midnight press conference at the Hidalgo County Health Department, officials urged people in flood prone areas to seek refuge at one of the local shelters and cautioned against trying to flee the storm.

"We are asking our residents to stay off the streets (Wednesday)," said Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas. "I would say that traditionally if your house floods .... that you move to a shelter."

Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties were not expecting a need to order mandatory evacuations, but Gov. Rick Perry declared them and 10 other South Texas counties disaster areas Tuesday afternoon.

More than 60 buses, 40 wheelchair vans will be on hand during and after the storm, according to the state Department of Emergency Management. Joining them will be search and rescue teams, swift water rescue teams, boats, helicopters and about 1,200 members of the Texas Military Forces.

Across the border, Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez Flores ordered evacuations of more than 23,000 people in Matamoros, Soto La Marina and San Fernando. The country's interior ministry was expected to seek disaster declarations for 17 border cities stretching from Nuevo Laredo, N.L. to the Gulf coast.

THE LATEST
As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, the storm had sustained winds approaching 80 mph, with even more powerful gusts.
Forecasters warn that a few tornadoes are possible overnight.

Reports from a Hurricane Hunter Plane indicated that Dolly is gradually intensifying, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Forecasters expect the storm to continue to intensify before it makes landfall on the coast midday. Dolly, which is moving at 9 mph, is also expected to slow down - a situation that forecasters say will allow the storm to dump more rain.

Additionally, if Dolly veers into Mexico as forecasters now predict, officials fear that several Mexican dams could overflow, spilling large amounts of water into the Rio Grande. That surge, officials said could push dams along the river past capacity, said Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas.

However, The U.S. International Water and Boundary Commission, which owns and operates the levees here, expressed no concern Monday afternoon that dams on either side of the Rio Grande would reach capacity, ac-cording to Sally Spener, IBWC spokeswoman.

The rain is expected to overflow local drainage channels, said Hidalgo County Drainage District Director Godrey Garza.

"Especially in the short timeframe they're talking about," he said. "We've been doing alright this summer, but it's been over a longer period of time."

The hardest hit areas from Dolly's expected initial rainfalls will be the northern and eastern parts of the county.

"As we start moving further downstream the flooding will be worse," Garza said. "Our system is like a network of roadways and they all feed into the main channel."
More westerly areas, including Mission and McAllen, are expected to fare better.

PREPARATIONS
With the storm bearing down, officials across the Valley were already preparing to deal with the aftermath.
The county has been clearing drainage ditches aggressively over the last 60 days in preparation for summer storms, officials said.

County Judge J.D. Salinas said that while no recent work has been done on the levees that would make them any more susceptible to flooding, he said he's still fearful the county's problematic system could be breached.

Leaders in Cameron County, too, expressed fears that their levees could be breached and urged residents who live along them to move to higher ground.

"I ask that any residents that live near the levee in Cameron County to please move away from the river levees near the Rio Grande River. We believe those will be breached if the path continues," said Johnny Cavazos, emergency management coordinator for the county earlier Tuesday.

San Benito could see water up to three feet above normal levels, officials said.

South Padre Island Mayor Robert Pinkerton Jr. has declared a local state of disaster, implementing the town's Emergency Management Plan. The state of disaster shall continue for a period of not more than seven days of the date hereof, unless the same is continued by consent of the Aldermen of the Town of South Padre Island.

"Increased winds are concern, and the community is encouraged to bring items susceptible to flight, indoors," Pinkerton said. "Anyone feeling uncomfortable with the expected storm is encouraged to relocate."

The Queen Isabella Causeway was closed at 10 p.m., effectively stranding people still on the island for the dura-tion of the storm.

McAllen Emergency Coordinator Kevin Pagan said Continental and American Airlines have cancelled their outgoing flights tomorrow morning. For future information, passengers are advised to contact their airlines.

STORM TIMELINE
>>About noon Wednesday: Dolly makes landfall in the Brownsville area. Hidalgo County could encounter winds of up to 50 to 60 miles per hour, with gusts up to 80 mph.

>>Wednesday night/Thursday morning: Dolly continues to move westward across North Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley, dissipating to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression.

Hidalgo County residents can expect to be rained upon through Thursday night.

Dolly is moving toward the west-northwest at about 11 mph, with an expected decrease in speed as the storm's center makes landfall Wednesday morning.

Forecasters emphasize that Dolly's path can still change and exactly where the storm will make landfall is not known.