Hurricane Dolly formed in the Caribbean is heading toward the U.S.-Mexico border and may strengthen into a Category 2 storm before reaching the coast around midday, forecasters predicted.

According to the National Hurricane Center’s Web site, early this morning the hurricane’s center was an estimated 55 miles (90 kilometers) east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. While approaching the Texas-Mexico boundary and Rio Grande Valley, the storm was packing sustained winds almost 85 miles per hour. Dolly is likely to make landfall later today, the center said.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville said conditions were propitious for tornadoes in South Texas, northeastern Mexico and the neighboring coastal waters in the coming days. Weather predictors expect Dolly to dump up to 20 inches (15-20 centimeters) of rain and cause coastal storm surge flooding up to 6 feet above standard high tide levels. A coastal storm surge of 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) above normal level is forecasted close to and north of the point where coast would be reached.

In Mexico, officials started making arrangements to evacuate 23,000 people to government shelters. They  insisted the inhabitants should back off from the Rio Grande levees. "The levees are not going to hold that much water," stated Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos. Residents should ensure they have the provisions required so as to deal with the situation.

Warnings regarding the hurricane were released for areas nearby the tropical storm zone. Gov. Rick Perry said 14 South Texas were counties disasters, permitting state funds to be employed to send equipment and emergency workers to regions in the storm's path.