Hurricane Dolly: UPDATE

Dolly Crawling Over South Texas

As of 7:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, Hurricane Dolly was centered near 26.6 degrees north and 98.0 west, or about 60 miles northwest of Brownsville, Texas, and was now over the Texas mainland. MORE:

12 hours of Hurricane Category 1

Earlier 6 AM Report Retrieved HERE: for Updates to Category One Storm hitting Texas Coast Today

"...Because levees have deteriorated since Hurricane Beulah hit the Rio Grande Valley in 1967, a major flooding threat is posed to low-lying counties along the border, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

"Bob McKee, director of College Station-based Texas Task Force 1, is overseeing the movements of hundreds of employees from agencies including the Texas Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas General Land Office, Texas Military Forces, Texas Civil Air Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Department of State Health Services.

"'Men, women and canines' are spread out along the coast from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande Valley, McKee said Tuesday, adding that search-and-rescue teams, structural collapse urban rescue units, 10 water rescue boat squads and five helicopters were ready to answer the call.

"'The person in charge of this particular incident is a woman named Dolly,' McKee said. 'She has a lot of personality. She has moved in several different directions. The speed has been very fast for a tropical storm. We have to stage our personnel and equipment as close to affected areas as possible but without getting cut off by storm surge or rain. We're appearing spread out but it's actually very strategic.'

"Texas Task Force 1 is overseen by the Texas Engineering Extension Service, which is the coordinating agency for all search-and-rescue efforts in the state. The task force has deployed 24 times since 1997 because of tropical storms or hurricanes.

Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008 6:05 AM
Task Force 1 sent to coast By APRIL AVISON, Eagle Staff Writer

"'Today has been, 'Where do we best position, and what is the storm doing?'" he said. 'We go out with a training plan in hand. We bring volunteers from throughout the state, and we train for the next event. We use lessons learned and how we can apply those best practices. We're providing swiftwater rescue training and awareness, where to be and where not to be.'

"Walt Peacock, director of Texas A&M University's Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and a professor in the urban planning program, said he thinks some lessons were learned in the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Rita, a Category 5 storm that hit the U.S. Gulf Coast and caused $11.3 billion in damage.

"This time around, the Texas governor has ordered 250 buses to be staged in San Antonio for potential evacuation needs. Perry also has asked that fuel teams be on call to supply gas stations and help stranded motorists..." (read entire Article here: Task force 1 sent to coast )