Tropical storm watch issued in Texas and Louisiana for major flood threat
A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts for a system that could soon become a short-lived tropical storm.
By Meteorologists Chris Dolce, Briana Waxman, Mary Gilbert, and CNN’s Kate Petersen
(CNN) — A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts for a system that’s likely to soon become a short-lived tropical storm.
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Tropical storm or not, this system will drench the Gulf states with significant flooding rain for days. And it has as already left its mark; at least one person was swept away and killed by floodwater in Texas on Monday.
The system is centered about 55 miles south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, as of 2 p.m. ET. It’s been dubbed Potential Tropical Cyclone One — a label the National Hurricane Center uses for systems that haven’t formed yet but could bring tropical storm conditions to land within 72 hours, or in this case as soon as early Wedneseday.
It’s forecast to become Tropical Storm Arthur once it moves into the northwest Gulf by early Wednesday morning. The system is then expected to move back inland over extreme east Texas or southwest Louisiana by late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Tropical-storm force winds (40 mph or greater) are possible across the warning area from Sargent, Texas, to Fort Morgan, Louisiana, but the more widespread threat is heavy rainfall.
Flood watches for the dangerous setup have been issued for more than 16 million people from South Texas to central and southern Mississippi. Brownsville, and Houston, Texas; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Jackson, Mississippi, are among the cities that could see significant to life-threatening flash floods.
The Weather Prediction Center has issued a Level 3 out of 4 threat of flash flooding for each day from Tuesday to Thursday in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Rainfall rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour are possible at times in some of these areas.
Texas, Louisiana and southern Mississippi have already been swamped by flooding from this system’s moisture colliding with a stalled front. There have been over 120 reports of flooding across these areas since Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Another 4 to 8 inches of rain could fall through Thursday from coastal Texas through much of Louisiana to central and southern parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center says. A few spots could see up to a foot.
Some locations from southern and eastern Texas to Louisiana and southern Mississippi have seen 4 to 8 inches of rain so far. The highest total as of Tuesday morning was just over 9 inches near Caldwell, Texas.
Water rescues and flooded roads already reported
Drenching rains along the stalled front have already caused significant flooding in central and south-central Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 101 counties and activated additional state emergency response resources on Monday.
In Bandera County northwest of San Antonio, a woman was killed after her vehicle was swept into a flooded creek early Monday morning. The woman called 911 and said she was “floating downstream at a high rate of speed and unable to exit her vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Authorities launched swift water rescue teams after losing contact with the woman. Her vehicle was found “several miles downstream from the initial entry point completely submerged,” the sheriff said.
Some Houston drivers were up to their trailer hitches in lapping waters, while photos from Waco, Texas, showed roadways washed away by the storms.
Crews rescued another person Monday morning who was stranded in their vehicle at a low water crossing, Lefevers said, noting many crossings are flooded across the county.
One person was also rescued in Travis County after becoming stranded at a low water crossing Monday, Travis County Judge Andy Brown told CNN. About 80 low water crossings in Travis County were flooded as of Monday morning, Brown said.
Responders also assisted drivers stranded at two different low water crossings in neighboring Williamson County, county spokesperson Connie Odom told CNN.
Multiple water rescues were also carried out in Bexar County Monday morning, according to Bexar County Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Lopez.
In Waco, Texas, multiple vehicles were stranded in floodwater on parts of Interstate 35 on Sunday night, forcing rescues, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
“I have not seen flooding like that in Waco before,” Texas Game Warden Capt. Matthew Kiel told CNN, adding most low water crossings were flooded in rural areas of McLennan County, where Waco is located, as well as in Milam, Williamson and Burleson counties. The Texas Game Wardens had completed a handful of water rescues across central Texas as of Monday morning, Kiel said.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, floodwater stranded drivers and entered a few commercial buildings and at least one building at a technical college on Monday, Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Deputy John Lane told CNN. The sheriff’s office received 52 calls for water rescues in a roughly six-hour period, but Lane didn’t know how many of those calls ultimately required a rescue. No injuries were reported, he said.
Similar or worse impacts are likely to play out this week.
Timing the flood threat
Here’s where the biggest flooding concerns are expected in the next few days:
• Tuesday to Tuesday night: Coastal Texas to southwest and central Louisiana and a small part of central Mississippi are in the area with the biggest flooding concerns. Localized flooding is possible as far east as central and southern Alabama and western and central Georgia.
• Wednesday to Wednesday night: The upper Texas coast, including Houston and Galveston, and southwest Louisiana, could see the most dangerous flooding, especially where rainfall has already saturated the ground from earlier in the week. How far west the heavy rain threat spreads is still uncertain, which could mean the difference between significant flashing flooding in Houston or not much impact at all.
• Thursday to Thursday night: Central Louisiana to southern and central parts of Mississippi and Alabama have the biggest threat of flooding rain. At least localized flooding will be possible as far southwest as upper Texas to as far north and east as Georgia, the Tennessee Valley and the central and southern Appalachians. That’s because a new cold front will help pull the tropical moisture farther north and east.
• Friday to Friday night: The cold front could cause at least isolated flash flooding in much of the South, but details are still uncertain.
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