Alberto, the first named tropical storm of this year's hurricane season, packing winds of 50 mph, made landfall in Mexico Thursday morning - bringing lashing rains and flooding to northern Mexico and parts of Texas.
Three people were reported dead in Mexico from the storm that formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is heading west at about 9 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Thursday.
"The heavy rainfall and the water, as usual, is the biggest story in tropical storms," said Michael Brennan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center, the Associated Press reported.
He said the storm was expected to dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some areas along the Texas coast.
Some areas in Mexico could be hit with as much as 20 inches of rain.
The center warned of the possibilities of mudslides and flash flooding in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.
In anticipation of the storm, schools and public transportation in many parts of Mexico were closed as shelters and command centers were being set up.
Luis Gerardo Gonzalez, the coordinator of civil protection in Tamaulipas, said 333 shelters have been distributed at each municipality in the state. "As the storm moves, we will be opening up more shelters," he told the Associated Press.
The three reported deaths were all minors, Reuters reported. One was a 15-year-old who was away by the current of a river and drowned outside the city of Monterrey.
Tropical storm warnings stretched along the northeast coast of Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Tecolutla.
The Tropical Storm Warning in Texas from San Luis Pass southward to the mouth of the Rio Grande has been discontinued.
