BRET BELTS TEXAS; HURRICANE SMASHES INTO GULF COASTLINE.

Byline: Kelley Shannon Associated Press 

Hurricane Bret, the biggest storm to hit Texas in nearly 20 years, roared ashore Sunday with horizontal sheets of rain and 125 mph winds that whipped and bent palm trees and forced thousands of people to flee inland.

The rapidly developing storm made landfall about 6 p.m. in sparsely populated Kenedy County, about 70 miles south of Corpus Christi.

Authorities reported no injuries in the hours after the storm hit land. No major damage was apparent as the storm moved inland Sunday night, but there was no word about largely unpopulated areas directly in the hurricane's path. The population of Kenedy County is 458.

Businesses and homes were shuttered from Brownsville to north of Corpus Christi, and highways leading inland were packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles before the storm hit.

Late Sunday, winds dropped to 115 mph and extended 30 miles out from the storm. Bret continued moving west at 7 mph, and forecasters expected it to decrease in strength overnight.

Forecasters had warned about tornadoes spawned by the storm, a foot or more of rain and a storm surge that could approach 25 feet.

The tightly focused storm had the ``clear potential of producing major disaster,'' said Jim Hoke, director of the National Weather Service's National Hydrometeorological Emergency Center. He compared the storm with Hurricane Andrew, which battered Florida in 1992.

But unlike Andrew, which hit densely populated South Florida, Bret hit between Corpus Christi (population 300,000) and Brownsville (132,000).

``The good news is that the core of the hurricane . . . is not over the more populated areas,'' said Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center.

The path resembles that of 1980's Hurricane Allen, which packed winds of 185 mph and did $55 million in property damage but killed only two people when it came ashore.

Palm trees whipped as the wind strengthened in early afternoon, and Corpus Christi Bay was covered with whitecaps as the Category 4 storm came ashore.

As the storm hit, some people braved driving rain and rolling surf to walk on Corpus Christi beaches. A few even grabbed surfboards or swam.

Carolina DeLeon, 23, was on the beach with her husband, Jesus, making a videotape of the storm for their unborn daughter, Zara, who is due in two weeks.

``She'll probably say, `Mom, you're crazy,' '' Carolina DeLeon said.

Corpus Christi declared a state of disaster and called for a general but voluntary evacuation of the city, said city spokesman Ted Nelson.

``We are really trying to drive home the point that we take this very seriously,'' Nelson said.

The evacuation was ``proceeding in an orderly fashion,'' Corpus Christi City Manager David Garcia said Sunday.

Emergency officials in San Antonio set up shelters at Lackland Air Force Base in anticipation of thousands of fleeing residents. Families pouring into shelters were told to bring only what they needed because of cramped quarters.

Many San Antonio hotels offered lowered evacuee rates with proof of residence in the hurricane-chewed region.

Like monstrous Hurricane Allen, Bret hit one of the state's least populated areas, the ranch land of Kleberg and Kenedy counties between Brownsville and Corpus Christi.

However, tropical storm-force winds of up to 73 mph extended more than 100 miles outward from the center, the National Hurricane Center said.

The King Ranch occupies much of Kenedy and Kleberg counties. Ranch president Jack Hunt said about 50 people had been evacuated but there was no way to protect about 55,000 head of cattle.

``The cattle will just have to ride it out,'' Hunt said. ``It's not practical to move them out.''

Most residents had left coastal Padre and Mustang islands, where a mandatory order was issued and police went door-to-door urging people to leave.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush said he would sign disaster proclamations for seven counties: Aransas, San Patricio, Kenedy, Cameron, Willacy, Nueces and Kleberg.

At 9 p.m. PDT, the center of Bret was located about 60 miles south of Corpus Christi.

Texas hadn't been hit by a hurricane since Hurricane Jerry killed three people in October 1989. However, the state's 367-mile-long coast has been struck by tropical storms since then, including Charley, which dumped 18 inches of rain and killed 19 people in August 1998.

The storm initially had been expected to head for Mexico's northern coast. But after Bret turned onto a course toward southern Texas, Mexico got little more than strong wind and warm rain.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map

Photo: Hurricane Bret, the biggest storm to hit Texas in nearly 20 years, crashes waves into Corpus Christi Bay.

Doug Sehres/San Antonio Express News

Map: HURRICANE BRET