Tropical Storm Edouard developed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico, putting parts of Texas and Louisiana on alert for rounds of heavy rain and possible flooding as the system moved toward the coast.
The National Hurricane Center upgraded the system from a tropical depression Monday night, and forecasters said Edouard was expected to make landfall in Texas on Tuesday.
As of early Tuesday, Edouard was located about 85 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, and 115 miles southeast of Port Arthur, Texas. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving west-northwest at 7 mph.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said flooding is expected to be the primary threat from the storm.
Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches are forecast for the greater Houston area, while some communities along the upper Texas coast could see as much as 9 inches.
The National Hurricane Center warned that rainfall rates could exceed 4 inches per hour at times, creating a strong risk of flash flooding in urban neighborhoods and low-lying areas.
“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 during a news conference.
Abbott said crews spent Monday removing dry vegetation that could be sparked by lightning and fuel fast-moving fires.
Meanwhile, the remnants of Hurricane Dolly brought rain and thunderstorms to parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Turks & Caicos, and the Bahamas, the hurricane center said.
In the Pacific Ocean on Monday evening, Tropical Storm Lowell was about 690 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph while moving west at 10 mph.
Forecasters said Lowell could rapidly intensify and become a major hurricane by Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, Hurricane Karina became a hurricane Sunday, fueled by warm waters far from any shore, and strengthened Monday into a powerful Category 4 storm.
But it did not threaten land, forecasters said.
On Monday evening, Karina remained a Category 4 hurricane and was centered 1,135 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph while moving west-northwest at 9 mph, the center said.
