| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Alex Could Become Hurricane Monday or Tuesday
 Adrian Virgen - Reuters
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June 28, 2010
| | Forecasters say Alex is again a tropical storm as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico and may become a hurricane as it swirls toward Mexico's east coast. (Associated Press - June 27) | |
Campeche, Mexico - Tropical storm Alex became better organized as it slowly moved away from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and forecasters said it could become a hurricane on Monday or Tuesday.
Coast Guard officials have said they do not think the storm poses an imminent threat to oil-siphoning efforts at BP Plc's blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.
But Shell Oil Co (RDSa.L) shut subsea production at the Auger and Brutus platforms in the Gulf due to the storm threat. It has evacuated nonessential workers from production platforms and drilling rigs in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico oilfields.
Forecasters from the U.S. National Hurricane Center said "additional strengthening is forecast in the next 48 hours and Alex could become a hurricane" on Monday or Tuesday.
The storm is expected to make landfall again between Brownsville, Texas, and Tuxpan de Rodriguez Cano in Mexico, mostly sparing BP oil collection efforts.
Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, had sustained winds of about 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts and was located about 75 miles (115 km) west of Campeche, Mexico. The system was moving northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).
The Mexican government kept the ports of Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas, which handle 80 percent of all its export shipping in the Gulf of Mexico, closed Sunday afternoon citing bad weather and strong surf in the area.
State-run oil giant Pemex said its platforms in the Campeche Sound were working normally and there was no evacuation plan yet due to Alex.
"We are on alert but platforms remain working," a Pemex spokesman told Reuters Sunday via text message.
Pemex's "emergency plan for hurricanes is constantly monitoring" systems in the area, he said.
EL SALVADOR DEATHS
Two men drowned in El Salvador after they were swept away by a river swollen with rain dumped by Alex, civil protection head Jorge Melendez told reporters Sunday.
Alex was expected to bring 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of rain to the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and parts of Guatemala through Tuesday. Isolated amounts of up to 15 inches (38 cm) were possible over mountainous areas. Forecasters warned the rain could cause flash floods and mudslides.
"Heavy rainfall could reach the coastal area of Tamaulipas and Veracruz Tuesday night and Wednesday," the Miami-based center said.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and meteorologists predict this year will be a very active one. Hurricanes feed on warm water and the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are higher than usual this year.
(Additional reporting by Jose Cortazar in Cancun, Nelson Renteria in El Salvador, and Cyntia Barrera Diaz in Mexico City, editing by Vicki Allen and Cynthia Osterman)
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