Police were busy evacuating people from Laredo on Thursday as the Rio Grande continued to rise, flooding portions of downtown and shutting down key border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico.

The river rose more than 40 feet above flood stage Thursday afternoon. City officials said the Rio Grande was expected to crest 2 feet above its current level. As of press time, thousands of people have been evacuated from Laredo because of the rising water, a Laredo Police Department shift commander said.

Tens of thousands of people in Mexican towns had already been forced from their homes as officials dumped torrents of water into flood-swollen rivers to avoid the risk of dams overflowing out of control in the aftermath of Hurricane Alex