Hurricane Dolly (2008) were destroyed with hundreds more damaged, and the storm surge caused many boats to be brought onshore, some into homes. The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, declared 14 counties in South Texas a disaster area. Insured property damage estimates are near $525 million (2008 USD) with total property damage estimates (based on a 2–1 ratio of total damage to insured damage) near $1.3 billion (2008 USD) in the state (with a large proportion of the losses being agricultural), and the Rio Grande cotton crop was expected to be a complete loss. After weakening to a tropical storm, Dolly spun off
Bertha Becker from the American Geographical Society, an honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon, and the Carlos Chagas Filho Scientific Merit award. In 2006, she had been elected a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Bertha Becker died in Rio de Janeiro on July 13, 2013, at the age of 82. Bertha Becker Bertha Koiffmann Becker (November 7, 1930 – July 13, 2013) was a Brazilian geographer, author and professor emeritus at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She published more than 180 books, articles, and other works during her career. Much of her research dealt with issues affecting