Hurricane Alex weakens but leaves destruction in its wake
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Hurricane Alex weakened to a tropical storm yesterday as it moved further inland over north-eastern Mexico, dumping heavy rains that flooded cities, but sparing US oil facilities near its path.
Rain from the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic season flooded about 80 per cent of the port city of Matamoros, sent uprooted trees crashing down on parked cars and forced thousands to flee low-lying fishing villages.
Inland in the industrial city of Monterrey, at least two people were killed by Alex's rains, which washed away cars, bridges and some houses, and turned dry desert beds into turbulent rivers.
The Category 2 hurricane struck the Tamaulipas coast around 3am yesterday. Although oil installations were not hit, some companies cut back production and evacuated staff. By Wednesday, oil companies had shut down production of more than 421,000 barrels a day, about a quarter of the Gulf's output, as a precaution.
BP said yesterday its Gulf oil and gas output was back to normal, although the passage of Alex slowed oil clean-up and containment efforts at its leaking deep-sea well off the Louisiana coast. Boats skimming the slick were returned to port.
Alex, which was expected to dissipate over Mexico's central mountain ranges overnight, killed a dozen people in Central America over the weekend.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments