"I'm just trying to be prepared," said Gil, who was in Houston for the Hurricane Rita evacuation in 2005. He doesn't plan to leave this time, but he bought extra gas just in case.
In Hidalgo County, the call went out for volunteers to man shelters that were scheduled to open Tuesday afternoon for residents of neighboring coastal counties.
Even as far up the coast as the Houston area, county officials told residents to be ready in case the storm changes course and heads their way.
Warnings and Watches
The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning from Brownsville north to Port O'Connor. Meanwhile, a tropical storm warning was issued from north of Port O'Connor to the San Luis Pass, a strait south of Galveston.
(See a map of Texas.)
Mexico also announced a hurricane warning from Rio San Fernando north to the U.S. border. A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch were also in effect from La Pesca to Rio San Fernando.
Forecasters said Dolly was expected to make landfall late Tuesday or early Wednesday as a Category 1 hurricane, which has with sustained winds of 74 miles an hour (120 kilometers an hour) to 95 miles an hour (150 kilometers an hour).
(Learn how the hurricane yardstick came to be.)
Texas officials said they wouldn't order evacuations along the coast unless Dolly strengthens to a Category 3, with sustained winds of at least 111 miles an hour (almost 180 kilometers an hour).
Tropical Storm to Hurricane
At 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the center of tropical storm Dolly was located over the Gulf about 230 miles southeast of Brownsville. It was moving west-northwest at about 12 miles an hour (almost 20 kilometers an hour). Tropical storm-force winds extended up to 160 miles.
There are about two million people in the Rio Grande Valley, which includes popular summer beach resort South Padre Island. Officials readied to evacuate residents in flood-prone areas and urged RV owners on South Padre to head for higher ground.
"That amount of rain will present a big flooding problem for us," said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.
Mindful of the disastrous evacuation before Hurricane Rita hit the Texas Gulf Coast in 2005—when far more people died from heat-related injuries and auto accidents fleeing the storm than from the severe weather—Perry also ordered 250 buses to be staged in San Antonio. He also ordered fuel teams to be ready to keep gas stations supplied and to help stranded motorists.
Mexican border towns near the Gulf coast were setting up shelters for those who want to leave areas that flood easily. Soldiers were also being sent into Matamoros to protect against looting, in case the storm does strike the Mexican border town on the Gulf Coast, forcing many residents to flee.
Cristobal, Fausto, Genevieve
Meanwhile tropical storm Cristobal was moving toward the northeast at about 21 miles per hour (34 kilometers an hour), away from the U.S. Cristobal was located about 485 miles (780 kilometers) northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds near 60 miles an hour (96 kilometers an hour).
Forecasters said the storm, which dumped rain on the coast of the Carolinas, was no longer an immediate threat to the U.S.
In the Pacific, tropical storm Genevieve strengthened slightly off Mexico's coast, but forecasters said the storm was not expected to threaten land.
Tropical storm Fausto, which was downgraded from a hurricane, also was weakening and moving out to sea.
