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Claudette nearly a hurricane

Storm turns westward toward Texas coast

A waterspout hangs over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday near Galveston, Texas.
A waterspout hangs over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday near Galveston, Texas.

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Residents along the Gulf of Mexico are battening down the hatches.
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Tropical Storm Claudette
At 11 p.m. Monday EDT
Latitude: 27.8 degrees north
Longitude: 94.0 degrees west
Position: 200 miles east of Corpus Christi, Texas
Top sustained winds: Near 70 mph

Source: National Hurricane Center
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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Claudette strengthened to near-hurricane status and turned westward toward the Texas coast on Monday night.

Forecasters were warning local officials on the Texas coast to be prepared for a Category 1 hurricane ahead of the storm's landfall, predicted for Tuesday evening.

If the forecast proves correct, Claudette will become the first hurricane of the season.

With a hurricane warning in effect from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to High Island, east of Galveston -- and a tropical storm warning extending to Intracoastal City, Louisiana -- National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said everyone on the coast should take heed.

"Most of that Texas coast is going to feel the impact," Mayfield told CNN. "We're telling (local officials) to get prepared for a Category 1 hurricane."

An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft flew into the center of Claudette on Monday night, the NHC said.

A Category 1 hurricane carries sustained winds of 74 mph to 95 mph (119 km/h to 153 km/h).

Claudette is expected to strengthen and become the Atlantic season's first hurricane late Monday or early Tuesday, the NHC said.

As of 11 p.m. EDT Monday, Claudette was about 200 miles (320 km) east of Corpus Christi, moving westward at about 8 mph (12 km/h), with maximum sustained winds of near 70 mph (112 km/h). Forecasters said Claudette would likely make landfall along the central Texas coast.

"Several oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have reported hurricane-force winds a few hundred feet above the surface," the NHC said.

In advance of the storm, ChevronTexaco shut its oil and natural gas production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. ExxonMobil also halted production.

Drifting aimlessly in the central Gulf after dumping heavy rain on several popular vacation spots in the Caribbean and on the Yucatan Peninsula, Claudette simply loomed all weekend, out of sight of vacationers and residents on the Texas coast.

Throughout Monday, increasing signs of the storm were prevalent in Texas. Waves as high as 12 feet were reported on the coast.

Galveston, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Houston, reported increasing wind and rain -- along with a pair of waterspouts just offshore.

The NHC predicted a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet above normal, along with 5 to 8 inches of rain in some areas.

The last hurricane to score a direct hit on Corpus Christi was Fern, a Category 1 storm that came ashore in 1971, just a year after Category 3 Celia slammed the city.

Allen, another Category 3 hurricane, came ashore much nearer to Brownsville in 1980, but set records for rainfall in Corpus Christi. Bret, which had been a Category 4 hurricane earlier in its life, was a Category 3 one when it made landfall in 1999 70 miles south of Corpus Christi on San Padre Island.

The most devastating hurricane to hit the Texas coast -- in fact, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history -- was a Category 4 storm with winds up to 150 mph (240 km/h) that on September 8, 1900, wiped away 12 city blocks of Galveston and killed some 8,000 people.


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