BROWNSVILLE, Texas—Texas and Mexico narrowly avoided the big disaster officials had feared when Hurricane Dolly hit land Wednesday, but the rain-swollen storm delivered a flurry of smaller punches along a wide swath of the Gulf Coast.

Packing winds of 100 mph, the hurricane tore off roofs, toppled trees and power poles and sent business signs rolling like tumbleweeds in the resort area of South Padre Island, where it first made land.

With up to 20 inches of rain expected in some areas, there was flooding on both sides of the border.

Mexican soldiers made a last-minute attempt to rescue people at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

The soldiers battled storm-charged waves in an inflatable raft to rescue at least one family trapped in their home, while others farther inland were still refusing to go to government shelters, said Matamoros spokeswoman Leticia Montalvo.

“These are people who did not want to leave, and now they are in trouble,” said Leticia Montalvo, a spokeswoman for the Mexican border city of Matamoros.

The damage, however, could have been far worse had Dolly’s eye not meandered 35 miles north of the border just before it came shore. It had been forecast to hit in possibly the most vulnerable spot in South Texas: the Rio Grande, where the storm could have pushed water over an aging levee system and flooded much of Matamoros and Brownsville across the border.

“The levees are holding up just fine,” said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos. “There is no indication right now that they are going to crest.”

The system weakened after striking land, but one official cautioned that the danger had not passed.

“It’s still very early in the storm,” said Sally Spener, a spokeswoman with the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Most of the destruction appeared to be on South Padre Island, where the hurricane knocked out power to thousands of homes; the causeway linking the island to the mainland was closed.

The roof of an apartment complex on South Padre Island partially collapsed, but residents said they didn’t believe anybody was injured.

“I thought it was just a big clap of thunder, (then) saw this stuff flying around and it’s the roof,” said Buck Dopp, who lives in a ground-floor apartment.

A 17-year-old boy fell from a seventh-story balcony, injuring his head, breaking his hip and fracturing his leg. The boy was being treated at an island fire station.

Beyond the island, small communities just north of Brownsville also were hit hard, including low-lying colonias, small villages of immigrants who live without sewer and water service.

At 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 50 miles north of Brownsville and moving northwest at about 8 mph. The storm’s maximum sustained winds had weakened to about 85 mph. Over the next 24 hours, Dolly was expected to turn gradually to the west-northwest as it moves farther inland.

Dolly spawned thunderstorms as far away as Houston, 400 miles up the coast. Tornado watches were in effect for many coastal counties between Corpus Christi and Houston.

In Mexico, a 102-year-old woman and seven family members fled their wooden shack in the fishing community of Higuerilla and spent the night at a shelter in Matamoros.

“I don’t know if my poor house will withstand the rain and wind,” Maria Miguel said.

Many of those who headed north to escape the storm were stopped at inland Border Patrol checkpoints, where agents opened extra lanes so they could check documentation. At one checkpoint on Interstate 77, smugglers were caught with 5,000 to 8,000 pounds of marijuana, and two immigrant smugglers also were caught, sector spokesman Dan Doty said.

“We could still do our job but we could do it quickly,” Doty said.

Power was knocked out to more than 56,200 customers in three border counties aside from South Padre Island.

Thousands of people fled to shelters in towns on both sides of the border while police and National Guard troops patrolled neighborhoods.

In Brownsville, the wind bent over palm trees and tossed debris across the all-but empty streets. The windows and doors of shops were boarded up with plywood, and most businesses were closed.

The U.S. Census Bureau said that based on Dolly’s projected path, about 1.5 million Texans could feel the storm’s effects. Gov. Rick Perry declared 14 south Texas counties disaster areas and sought federal disaster declarations.

As Dolly approached, oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico evacuated workers from 62 production platforms and eight rigs, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which monitors offshore activity.

Shell Oil, which didn’t expect production to be affected by the evacuations, also secured wells and shut down operations in the Rio Grande Valley, where it primarily deals in natural gas.

The last hurricane to hit the U.S. was the fast-forming Humberto, which came ashore in South Texas last September. Dolly is the 26th hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in July since record keeping started in 1851, according to federal researchers.

The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September. So far this year, there have been four named storms, two of which became hurricanes. Federal forecasters predict a total of 12 to 16 named storms and six to nine hurricanes this season.