The National Hurricane Center has said that Hurricane Alex was upgraded Wednesday to a Category 2 storm and was close to landfall in northeastern Mexico.

At 7 p. m. EDT, forecasters said the first Atlantic hurricane of the season was about 55 miles northeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and about 105 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, moving west about 12 mph.

It has been reported that a hurricane warning was posted for the Texas coast south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and for the coast of Mexico from the Rio Grande to La Cruz.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Texas coast from Baffin Bay to Port O'Connor and for the coast Mexico from La Cruz to Cabo Rojo.

It was further noted by the reports that top sustained winds were near 100 mph with higher gusts and forecasters said Alex could gain strength before making landfall during the next few hours. Weakening was likely after the center of the storm reaches the coastline.

Accuweather. com has reported that potentially life-threatening flooding is forecast from northeastern Mexico to southern Texas.

Tropical storm-force winds extend as far as 200 miles from Alex's center, AccuWeather. com said. Gusts up to 70 mph were expected to develop throughout the day Wednesday over southern Texas, threatening to down trees and power lines and possibly damaging buildings and vehicles. (With Inputs from Agencies)