(August 15, 2007)--South Texas coastal residents are heading to hardware and grocery stores Wednesday as they board up their homes and businesses in the face of Tropical Storm Erin.

Rescue workers also have been activated to deal with heavy rain expected from the storm.

Around midmorning, the storm was centered about 250 miles east-southeast of Brownsville with maximum sustained winds near 40 miles per hour and gusting.

Forecasters say it's moving west-northwest at 14 miles per hour.

Maximum sustained winds were near 40 miles per hour with higher gusts.

Tropical force winds extended outward as far as 70 miles and early Wednesday afternoon, some raid bands were already approaching the coast.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm could strike South Texas Thursday.

The center has issued a tropical storm warning for the Texas Gulf coast from Freeport to the Rio Grande.

The warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warned area within the next 24 hours.

That means winds of 39 miles per hour or more.

Forecasters expect total rainfall of 3 to 5 inches along the middle Texas coast, with isolated rainfall of 8 inches.

Rescue workers have been activated to deal with heavy rain expected from the storm, which could cause another round of flooding, mainly in areas south of San Antonio.

Gov. Rick Perry sent emergency vehicles and personnel to South Texas Tuesday in advance of the storm.

Perry says many communities in this storm's projected path are at high risk of dangerous flash flooding.

On Tuesday he sent 30 vehicles and 60 Texas National Guard members to Weslaco and San Antonio and on Wednesday he sent an additional detachment of troops and vehicles to the Corpus Christi area.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos is urging residents to evacuate trailers and mobile homes on South Padre Island.

But Cascos says the storm appears to have veered northward and that few vacationers seemed nervous enough to leave.

Out in the Gulf, Shell Oil evacuated nearly 190 people from offshore facilities in the storm's path.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville says Erin is likely too close to land to gain enough wind speed to become a hurricane.

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