LOS ANGELES, CA  (Catholic Online) - "Strengthening is forecast during the next 36 hours or so before landfall the National Weather Bureau said in an advisory.

Brownsville residents have been given sandbags to fortify homes and businesses. Texas Governor Rick Perry declared 19 counties a disaster area in order to free up resources. More than 2,500 National Guard troops, eight helicopters and three aircraft have been rallied in advance of the season's first storm.

According to the Hurricane Center, Brownsville, a Texas city of 172,437 will be struck by the Alex's most powerful quadrant. Warnings have been issued from Baffin Bay in Texas to La Cruz in Mexico.

According to Jeff Masters, the co-founder of Weather Underground, Alex is currently passing over a warm eddy of water in the Gulf and will have its best chance of intensifying in the next few hours.

"It is probably going to intensify into a Category 2 hurricane," Masters says. "It could weaken right before landfall, though."

Alex is expected to drop as much as 12 inches of rain in northeastern Mexico and southern Texas as it makes landfall. Some locations may receive as much as 20 inches of rain. In addition, a storm surge of about 5 feet is possible along the coast.

"The surge could penetrate inland as far as several miles from the shore with the depth decreasing as the water moves inland," the advisory said.