Hurricane Dolly (2008)

Hurricane Dolly (2008)

Hurricane Dolly was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in extreme southern Texas in July 2008. Dolly was the fourth tropical cyclone and second hurricane to form during the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first U.S. landfalling hurricane of the 2008 season. Dolly developed on July 20 from an area of disturbed weather in association with a strong tropical wave. It was named Dolly at the same time it formed—skipping the tropical depression phase entirely as the precursor wave already had tropical storm-force winds. This marked the earliest time a fourth named cyclone has formed since the 2005 season, which holds the record.

The tropical storm made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula near Cancún early on July 21, leaving at least 17 people dead in Guatemala, and one person in the Yucatán. It moved into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened to become a Category 2 hurricane, before weakening some and making landfall as a Category 1 storm on July 23 in South Padre Island, Texas, with 85 mph (140 km/h) winds. The storm caused 212,000 customers to lose power in Texas as well as 125,000 in Tamaulipas, and dropped estimated amounts of over 16 inches (410 mm) of rain in isolated areas . Rip currents throughout the entire Gulf Coast resulted in one person drowning off the Florida Panhandle. There were no deaths as a result of Hurricane Dolly in Texas; it did, however, cause an estimated $1.05 billion in damage. The remnants of the storm caused two deaths in New Mexico.