MIAMI - US National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning Monday for the Texas and Louisiana coasts as tropical storm Claudette, raged across the Gulf of Mexico.

Claudette could become a hurricane late Monday or Tuesday, as maximum sustained winds are near 104 kilometers (65 miles) per hour with higher gusts. Some strengthening is expected during the next 24 hours. At 2100 GMT, the center issued a hurricane warning along the Texas coast from Brownsville to High Island. A tropical storm warning was extended from High Island and along the Louisiana coast Intercoastal City.

Several oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have reported hurricane-force winds a few hundred feet above the surface during the past few hours, however a hurricane alert for the northeast coast of Mexico has been lifted, the center said.

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