Sep 06, 2010

Tropical Storm Hermine formed in the western end of the Gulf of Mexico, becoming the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The system off Mexico’s east coast strengthened in the past three hours, with maximum sustained winds of about 50 miles (85 kilometers) per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a website advisory just before 11 a.m. New York time. Hermine is forecast to strengthen further before coming ashore near the Mexico-U.S. border, where hurricane watches have been issued.

“The center of Hermine is expected to approach the coast of northeastern Mexico or extreme southern Texas in the warning area tonight,” the center said. Heavy rainfall and a storm surge “will raise water levels by as much as 2 to 4 feet above ground level along the immediate coast near and to the north of where the center makes landfall.”

Hermine was 130 miles east-southeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and 205 miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, heading north-northwest at 13 mph. The storm is in a similar location as Hurricane Alex, the first of the June through November hurricane season, which slammed into northeastern Mexico on June 30. Alex forced the evacuation of rigs in the Gulf and halted offloading at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which serves tankers in the U.S.

The hurricane watch issued this morning covers the area from Rio San Fernando, Mexico, northward to Baffin Bay in Texas. A tropical storm warning extends from La Cruz, Mexico, northward to Port O’Connor, Texas.

Gulf Threat

The Gulf of Mexico is home to about 31 percent of U.S. oil output and 10 percent of natural gas production. The Gulf Coast houses 43 percent of the operable U.S. refining capacity, according to the Energy Department.

Hermine, whose tropical storm-force winds reach 105 miles from its eye, may bring four to eight inches of rain to northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, with isolated areas getting as much as 12 inches, the hurricane center said.

“These rainfall amounts may cause life-threatening flash flood and mudslides especially over the higher terrain of northeastern Mexico,” the center said. The center’s forecast map shows the storm coming ashore in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state.

The hurricane center also is monitoring the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston in the Atlantic, which the agency says has a 70 percent chance of re-forming into a depression or storm over the next two days. That system was about 400 miles east of the Caribbean’s northernmost Leeward islands at 8 a.m. Miami time, moving west at 15 mph. Heavy rains in the area were forecast.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

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