July 23, 2008 Hurricane Dolly weakens, flooding a concern Play video

(NECN/ABC) - Hurricane Dolly made a big splash on arrival in Texas this morning. The storm - its wind and rain - may still cause considerable problems inland. But right now the storm has been downgraded from Category 2, to Category 1.

Hurricane Dolly blew into the Texas-Mexico border with her roof ripping winds exceeding 100 miles per hour, churning the gulf of Mexico as she arrived. Charles Broomer "It's just a very angry sea, that's a lot of strong waves, extreme high tides. It's just a very interesting and exciting event, you know."

While thousands in the area are without power, others are without a roof over their heads...literally.

Jacqueline: When we've heard the first BANG we thought it was one of the air conditioners flying.. and then we went outside and we saw the debris and we saw the neighbors leaving; it was the neighbors' roof

Hurricane Dolly made landfall early this afternoon as a Category 2 storm near South Padre Island...where it continues to rain...sideways.

Pat Leonard, South Padre Island resident "Trees are just bending over and lots of wind noises. Right now we can barely walk against the wind."

The storm is expected to dump up to 15 inches of rain in the area. Flooding and levee breaches are big concerns. The governor of Texas declared 14 South Texas counties disaster areas ahead of her landfall so state resources and emergency workers were already in place once the Hello Dolly signs turned to goodbye.