Tropical Storm Nicholas gathered strength Monday and threatened to blow ashore in Texas as a hurricane that could bring up to 20 inches of rain to parts of the Gulf Coast, including the same area that hit Hurricane Harvey and storm-ravaged Louisiana in 2017.
Almost the entire coastline of the state was under a tropical storm warning, which included potential flash floods and urban flooding. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said authorities have set up rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the system’s highest sustained winds hit 60 mph (95 km / h). When the wind hits 74 mph, the storm would become a Category 1 hurricane. It was traveling north at a distance of 12 mph, only to pass near the coast of South Texas later in the day, and then to head ashore in the evening.
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In flood-prone Houston, officials feared heavy rain, expected late Monday and early Tuesday, could flood streets and flood homes. Authorities deployed flood rescue vehicles across the city and erected barricades in more than 40 locations prone to flooding, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
“This city is very resilient. We know what to do. We know how to prepare,” said Turner, referring to four major flooding events that have struck the Houston area in recent years, including devastating Harvey damage .
Heavy rain #Nicholas has the potential to cause life-threatening flooding in parts of Texas’s upper Gulf Coast. Significant flash floods are also possible in parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/FCNR9FVJI5
– National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 13, 2021
Several schools in the Houston and Galveston areas were closed on Monday due to the coming storm. The Houston school district, the largest in the state, has announced that classes will be canceled on Tuesday.
COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites have closed in Harris County, which includes Houston; Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston; and Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi.
On Monday afternoon, Nicholas was approximately 113 kilometers southeast of Port Aransas, Texas and 105 miles (169 kilometers) south of Port O’Connor, Texas. The hurricane center announced that it moved “irregularly” directly off the coast.
A hurricane watch was issued from Port Aransas to the San Luis Pass.
Along the central and upper Texas coast, 20 to 40 centimeters of rain were expected, with occasional maximum amounts of 50 centimeters possible. Other parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana could see 5 to 10 inches (12.5 to 25 centimeters) in the coming days.
“Listen to the local weather warnings and heed the local advice on what to do correctly and safely, and you will weather this storm just like many other storms,” Abbott said during a press conference in Houston.
Nicholas was on his way to the same area of Texas that was badly hit by Harvey. This storm hit land on the central Texas coast, then stalled for four days, dropping more than six inches of rain in parts of southeast Texas. Harvey has been blamed for at least 68 deaths, including 36 in the Houston area.
But University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said he expected Nicholas “will be orders of magnitude smaller than Harvey in all respects.”
Nicholas will worry about how slowly it moves. Storms have been moving more slowly in recent decades, and Nicholas could get stuck between two other weather systems, said hurricane researcher Jim Kossin of the Climate Service.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency on Sunday evening before the storm hit a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year’s Hurricane Laura and historic floods.
“The greatest threat to Louisiana is in the southwestern part of the state, where the recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May floods is underway,” said Edwards.
The storm was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Ida hit Louisiana two weeks ago.
Across Louisiana, nearly 120,000 customers were left without power as of Monday morning, according to utility tracking site poweroutage.us.
Satellite image shows tropical storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico on September 12, 2021 | AP
While Lake Charles had minimal impact from Ida, the city saw multiple wallops in 2020 from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, a winter storm in February, and historic floods that spring.
Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said the city takes the storm threat seriously, like all tropical systems.
“Hope and prayer are not a good plan,” said Hunter.
In Cameron Parish on the Louisiana coast, Scott Trahan was still finishing repairs to his home from Hurricane Laura, which brought about 2 feet of water into his home. He hopes to be ready by Christmas. He said many in his area have moved rather than rebuilding.
“If you get hit in the butt about four times, you won’t get up again. You’re going to go somewhere else, ”said Trahan.
Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said via Twitter that Nicholas is the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. There were 14 or more named storms in only four other years from 1966 through September 12: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020.
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