Alberto's Fury: 2024's First Hurricane Brings Tragic Floods to Mexico

Alberto, the first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, downgraded to a tropical depression while moving inland over northeastern Mexico. The storm caused heavy rains and flooding, leading to the tragic death of three children. Authorities have set up temporary shelters and emergency services are on high alert.

Alberto, the first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has weakened into a tropical depression as it moves inland over northeastern Mexico, bringing more heavy rains and flooding after leaving three children dead.

The governor of Mexico's Nuevo Leon state told local media late Wednesday that at least three people, all under 18, had died due to the storm. One of the victims was later identified by emergency services as a 15-year-old boy who was swept away by a current outside Monterrey, Mexico's third-biggest city.

In both Nuevo Leon, where Alberto filled up the Santa Catarina river, causing it to break its banks, and in the coastal Tamaulipas state, local authorities moved people into temporary shelters and paused public activities. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm would continue to bring heavy rains and flooding across parts of northeastern Mexico, likely producing "considerable flash and urban flooding" and possibly life-threatening mudslides.

It warned that much of the Texas coastline could continue to see moderate flooding through the morning. The storm made landfall earlier on Thursday near the Mexican city of Tampico and is churning west across the country at 18 miles per hour (30 kph), packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph), the NHC said.