Texas, Louisiana brace for Tropical Storm Edouard with heavy rain, flooding threat

Tropical Storm Edouard is approaching the Gulf Coast early Tuesday and expected to strengthen later.

After gaining strength, the tropical storm will hit Texas and Louisiana with dangerous threats of heavy rains and flooding.

According to forecasters from the National Hurricane Center, the storm was upgraded from tropical depression on Monday nights and it will make landfall later on Tuesday in Texas.

Speaking about storm track and location, the storm was about 65 miles south-southeast of Cameron, Louisiana and 90 miles southeast of Port Aurthur, Texas. Moving toward southeast, the maximum sustained winds are 40 mph while moving west-northwest at 8mph.

Developed near Texas and Louisiana, the tropical storm prompted Texas Governor Greg Abbott and emergency management officials to prepare for significant flooding.

The forecasters predict 3-6 inches of rain in the greater Houston area, up to 9 inches along the upper coast and rainfall rates would exceed 4 inches per hour.

“This is our first big storm of the season, and I’ll tell you, Texas is prepared,” Orlando Alanis of the Texas Division of Emergency Management said.

“Crews worked Monday to clear dry vegetation that could ignite from a lightning strike and cause fast-spreading fires,” Abbott said.

Tropical Storm Lowell is located about 630 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. It is moving west at 10mph with maximum sustained winds of 70mph. As per forecast, it will intensify into a major hurricane by Wednesday.

In the coming days, Tropical Storm Marie will also become a hurricane without threatening land. It formed early Tuesday offshore with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, moving northwest.

Speaking about Hurricane Karina in the Pacific, it has intensified into a Category 4 storm but posed no risk to land.