Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, threatening to become a hurricane before landfall, but no damage was reported to US or Mexican oil facilities. At 12:30 pm CDT (1750 GMT) Hermine, the eighth tropical storm of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season, was located about 85 miles (135 km) north-east of La Pesca, Mexico, and about 140 miles (225 km) south-east of Brownsville.
Hermine's maximum sustained winds increased to 60 miles per hour (95 kph) with higher gusts and was moving north-west at 14 miles (22 km) per hour. A hurricane watch was issued from Rio San Fernando in Mexico to Baffin Bay, Texas, the US National Hurricane Center said.
While the storm is likely to approach hurricane strength before landfall, forecasters say Hermine will miss most offshore US oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. A spokesman for Pemex, Mexico's state oil company, said none of the state-run oil giant's Gulf facilities had reported damages from the storm.
BP, the largest oil producer in the US-regulated areas of the Gulf, said Hermine was not expected to impact its operations. No cutbacks by other producers have been announced so far and Mexico's three main oil exporting ports remained open on Monday. Heavy rains threatened further flooding in several Mexican states already hurting from last week's bad weather.
"The center of Hermine is expected to approach the coast of north-eastern Mexico or extreme southern Texas in the warning area tonight," the Miami-based hurricane center said. Hermine could dump 4 to 8 inches (10 cm to 20 cm) of rain on northeastern Mexico and South Texas, with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches (30 cm) possible, the center said.
Rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in places like Matamoros, Tamaulipas, which suffered badly from hurricane Alex in July. Matamoros residents braced for flooding as authorities remained in high alert. The drainage system in the northern Mexican city - located just across the border from Brownsville, Texas - is often clogged with garbage and prone to overflow during heavy rains.
"Every time there is a hurricane or a storm we have problems," said Rene Polanco, 48, who works in a Matamoros supermarket. "It's because of poor drainage in the city." At least 30 residential areas could be in danger from floods, although no evacuations have started yet, an official for the city's civil protection said.
In the Atlantic, the remnant low of Tropical Storm Gaston continued to move westward but had a high chance of reforming as a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours. However, it was still too early to tell whether Gaston could eventually threaten the US Gulf of Mexico, where major US oil and gas production and refining operations are located, or Florida.
Energy traders keep a close eye on potentially violent storms approaching the Gulf because it is home to about 30 percent of US oil production, 11 percent of natural gas production and more than 43 percent of US refinery capacity. The hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30 and is currently in its peak period.