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This NOAA satellite images taken on July 22, 2008 shows Tropical Storm Dolly as it makes its way through the Gulf of Mexico. Dolly intensified over the warm waters of the Gulf and is expected to make landfall just below the Mexico- American border on Wednesday. (UPI Photo/NOAA Handout)

"It's probably not the best decision to ride it out," Murphy, owner of Murphy's Fishing Charters, told CNN after the storm came ashore on South Padre Island, near Brownsville.

Murphy, 41, remained at a shipyard, hunkered down with his girlfriend, Lisa Graves, and another captain aboard a 65-foot double-decked fishing boat, Murphy's Law, tied up at a pier. He said his brother was alone in the company's second charter. A third fishing boat had been pulled out of the water before Dolly arrived.

Dolly was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with 74 mph to 95 mph winds until top winds strengthened to 100 mph Wednesday afternoon after the eye passed South Padre Island. Hurricane-force winds extended 25 miles from the center, the National Hurricane Center said.

Things got bad after the eye passed. "It's absolutely outrageous here," Graves said. "The winds are high … I can't describe it."