Tropical storm teases parched Texas, but fizzles

Tropical storm Don is over. There will be some lingering scattered showers, but South Texas' best hope for substantial rain in months has collapsed on approach, wetting the area with less than an inch of rain and strong breezes.

The National Hurricane Center says it will not announce a landfall, because Don was never a hurricane and became nothing but a weak cluster of storms when it came ashore over sparsely populated ranch lands south of Baffin Bay Friday evening.

Cotton growers who scrambled to harvest in recent days, but still left the bulk of their fluffy bolls in the field can breathe a sigh of relief. For other farmers and ranchers, it's back to watching the skies longingly for rain.

First Published: Jul 30, 2011 07:25 IST