The storm was blamed for two deaths -- a woman in Victoria, Texas, who was killed by a falling tree limb, and a boy in Jourdanton, Texas, killed when a tree fell on him, officials said.
The storm, which reached hurricane status earlier in Tuesday with winds of 80-85 mph gusting to 104 mph, tested the limits of power lines, trees and structures as it made landfall.
By Tuesday night maximum sustained winds had diminished to 50 mph, and by Wednesday winds reached only 30 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
At 4 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the center of the depression was southwest of San Antonio, Texas, close to the Texas-Mexico border.
'Nothing minimal about Claudette'
As the hurricane came ashore, high winds and heavy rain whipped the area. Tropical storm force winds extended as far out as 140 miles, the hurricane center said.
"There's nothing minimal about Claudette," said Jack Colley, state coordinator for the governor's Division of Emergency Management.
"Fifteen counties were impacted, we're still in the response mode, and our objective now is to ensure the health and safety of our citizens," Colley said.
Reuters reported utility companies as saying some 74,000 customers were without power.
In Victoria, just inland of Port Lavaca, a woman was killed after the worst of the storm had passed through. A spokesman for the Victoria County Sheriff's Department said the woman left her house to inspect damage outside when a tree limb fell on her and killed her.
In Jourdanton, Texas, about 35 miles south of San Antonio, a 13-year-old boy was killed by a tree that fell in the storm, officials said.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescued two men after their 92-foot shrimp boat sank at the entrance to Sabine Pass, a narrow slip of open water through the bayous east of Galveston on the Texas-Louisiana state line.
"They were covered in diesel fuel, but they were in good health," said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Wine.
Flooding strands some residents
The storm surge stranded some residents of Surfside Beach, near Freeport, but the hurricane center said the flooding along the north Texas coast would subside as the high tide ebbed.
In the Galveston area, more than 100 miles from where Claudette came ashore, 8-foot waves crashed over five lanes of highway on the seawall built nearly 1,000 feet from the tide line, and waterspouts spun wildly over the choppy water.
The Galveston City Council declared the western end of the island a disaster area, which should help residents apply more quickly for federal aid. Many beachfront houses were damaged and several roads were impassable because of high water or from storm damage.
"It got a little hairy overnight, but it didn't get as bad as we expected," Galveston Mayor Roger Quiroga told CNN. "It should be getting better as the time goes by."
Quiroga said beach erosion was the area's biggest concern. Galveston Island, he said, loses about 10 feet of beach a year without hurricane-force winds and rain.
In Port Lavaca -- about 10 miles west of Port O'Connor -- television images, blurred by the salty spray on camera lenses, captured palm trees and weakly built structures blowing over in the wind.
Later, city crews rushed to assess the damage in the short break before the storm's back edge passed through.
"The north side of town's had quite a bit of damage," said city manager Gary Broz, standing by the rubble of a downtown park's brick wall. "The majority of the town is without power."
But Broz said that overall, the city had come through Claudette's leading edge fairly well.
Red Cross spokeswoman Suzanne Hogan said Wednesday that workers had moved in to the stricken East Texas area to provide relief.
Workers are providing residents with food, clothing, shelter and cleaning supplies, Hogan said.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/07/1...tte/index.html
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