Nicholas makes landfall as hurricane, swamping parts of Texas
Hurricane Nicholas made landfall over the Gulf Coast of Texas early Tuesday morning, barreling ashore with Category 1 hurricane-force winds before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
Nicholas could "cause life-threatening flash floods across the deep South during the next couple of days," the National Hurricane Center says. The storm is expected to move slowly northeast, deeper into Texas later Tuesday and farther east by Wednesday, over Louisiana.
More than seven inches of rain has pelted the Houston area causing roads to flood. Heavy winds caused several trees to be knocked down and as of Tuesday morning more than 300,000 people are without power.
Tropical Storm Nicholas made landfall in Texas last night, bringing heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts.@WeatherProf walks through what to expect next from the storm as it moves across the coasts of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. pic.twitter.com/AH5W1UwnwL
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 14, 2021
An hour south of Houston, visibility throughout the Freeport area was almost zero as heavy rain and storm surge covered the roads there. Even before the storm made landfall, Nicholas was pelting the coast with wind gusts of over 70 mph.
The slow-moving storm was expected to spend the morning in Texas and then move on to Louisiana.
The governors of both Texas and Louisiana have already asked the president for disaster aid. The same area was slammed by Hurricane Harvey with a record 60 inches of rain in 2017. Louisiana is also still recovering from Hurricane Ida's landfall two weeks ago.
Officials are asking people in the area to buckle down until the coast is clear.