Reuters.- Tropical Storm Nicholas was dragging down the Gulf Coast Tuesday at the height of Texas and Louisiana, drenching the region with torrential downpours and leaving hundreds of thousands without power as floodwaters and debris covered area streets.
This is the second major storm to hit the region in recent weeks after Hurricane Ida killed more than two dozen people in August and devastated communities in Louisiana near New Orleans.
Between 3 and 7 centimeters of rain was expected in isolated areas on the Texas coast and southern Louisiana Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
Nicholas was about 55 kilometers southeast of Houston at 18:00 GMT, heading east-northeast with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour, the NHC said in a bulletin.
The storm is believed to move slowly to the northeast throughout the day and then turn to the east, moving over Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida peninsula through Thursday.
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Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has warned of flash flooding caused by heavy rains.
“It is vital that we have as many resources as possible to respond to the forecast heavy rains, potential flooding and rising rivers in central and southern Louisiana. I urge everyone to be prepared, ”he said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The storm is expected to drop 12 to 25 centimeters of rain in the region and possibly 50 centimeters in isolated areas in southern Louisiana through Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
At noon, more than 94,000 customers in Louisiana and 422,000 in Texas were without power.According to a Reuters tally, while in the Houston area alone, more than 288,000 customers faced outages, utility CenterPoint Energy said.
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