At least one person has died as Hurricane Alex battered north-eastern Mexico and southern Texas Thursday, the broadcaster CNN reported, according to dpa. A construction worker in the Mexican city of Monterrey died when a wall fell on him as a result of the rainfall. The season's first hurricane was a category 2 storm with sustained winds of 155 kilometres an hour when it reached land south of the Rio Grande river that marks the border between the US and Mexico. Weather forecasters early Thursday downgraded the storm to a category 1, and said it would weaken as it continued to move inland. Alex made landfall some 65 kilometres north-north-east of La Pesca, Mexico and 180 kilometres south of Brownsville, Texas, the US National Hurricane Centre said. Tornadoes had been reported in some parts of Texas, and the storm could dump up to 30 centimetres of rain over north-eastern Mexico and southern Texas. The hurricane season is expected to be worse than normal this year, provoking special concern along the Louisiana-to-Florida coast that is fighting a 10-week-old BP oil gusher. Even though Alex is not expected to directly hit the oil spill region, BP plc's burning and skimming operations have already been suspended due to rough seas. Siphoning and relief-well drilling however have not been stopped. It is the first time since 1995 that the first Atlantic hurricane rolled through so early, in June. The coastal storm surge was expected to lift water levels by 1 to 2 metres and penetrate several kilometres inland, the US hurricane centre said.
