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Brownsville: Hurricane Dolly, which lashed the US-Mexico coastline, weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday over South Texas, but concern remained over flooding along the populous Rio Grande Valley.
Initial reports indicated that aging levees holding back the Rio Grande River withstood a surge from Dolly, which dumped up to 12 inches of rain in the first hours after coming ashore at the barrier island of South Padre Island on Wednesday and spurred widespread flooding across South Texas and northeast Mexico.
The full effect of the flooding might not be seen for days as rain flows into the region where more than 1 million people live.
Local officials said the levees have held under the strain, though flooding was widespread.
"They held up fine," said Johnny Cavazos, emergency management coordinator for Cameron County, which borders Mexico and the mouth of the Rio Grande. "I don't see this being a problem as Dolly moves inland."
Dolly, the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season, left about 245,000 homes in the valley without power as of Thursday afternoon, according to the state's grid operator.
Dolly came ashore on Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane, the second level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kmh), but steadily lost strength as it moved inland.
At 5 pm EDT the storm was 35 miles south of Eagle Pass, Texas, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
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