Former tropical storm moves into Gulf on path toward Texas

MEXICO CITY – The remnants of former Tropical Storm Harvey moved into the southern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday night, and forecasters warned it could reorganize as a tropical system and threaten Texas late this week.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the low pressure system was clearing Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and probably would become a tropical depression or even a tropical storm Wednesday or Thursday.

The centre said the system could reach the northwestern Gulf by Friday and there was a threat of prolonged heavy rain and flooding for portions of the coast from northeastern Mexico to southern Louisiana into the coming week. Texas could also see storm surge and tropical storm- or hurricane-force winds, the advisory said.

To the west, once-mighty Hurricane Kenneth weakened rapidly far out in the Pacific and was downgraded to a tropical storm. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) Tuesday night, down from its top force of 130 mph (210 kph) as a Category 4 hurricane Monday.

It was centred about 1,535 miles (2,465 kilometres) west of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula.