A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts as it is likely to become a short-lived tropical storm soon.
⛈️ Track storms with CNN Weather for iPhone
Tropical cyclone or not, this system will drench the Gulf states with significant rain over several days. And it has already left its mark. At least one person died after being swept away by floodwaters in Texas on Monday.
The system is centered approximately 55 miles south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, as of 2 p.m. ET. This is called “Potential Tropical Cyclone 1.” It’s a label the National Hurricane Center uses for systems that have not yet formed but could reach tropical storm status within 72 hours, in this case as early as early Wednesday morning.
It is expected to become Tropical Storm Arthur as it moves into the northwest Gulf Coast by early Wednesday morning. The system is then expected to move back inland over far eastern Texas or southwestern Louisiana by late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Tropical storm-force winds (more than 40 mph) are possible across the warning area from Sargent, Texas, to Fort Morgan, Louisiana, but the broader threat is heavy rain.
Flood watches for this dangerous situation have been issued for more than 16 million people from south Texas to south central Mississippi. Brownsville, Houston, Texas. Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jackson, Mississippi is one of the cities where severe to life-threatening flash flooding is possible.
The National Weather Prediction Center has announced that parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are at Level 3 of a four-tier flash flood risk for each day from Tuesday through Thursday. Some of these areas could experience rainfall of 3 to 4 inches per hour.
Texas, Louisiana and southern Mississippi are already experiencing flooding as the system’s moisture collides with a stationary front. There have been more than 120 reports of flooding in these areas since Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
An additional 4 to 8 inches of rain is possible through Thursday from the Texas coast through much of Louisiana, south-central Mississippi and Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said. In some places you could see up to a foot away.
Some places from south and east Texas to Louisiana and southern Mississippi have received 4 to 8 inches of rain so far. The highest water depth as of Tuesday morning was just over 9 inches near Caldwell, Texas.
Water rescues and road flooding have already been reported.
Heavy rains along a stationary front have already caused major flooding in south-central Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued a disaster declaration for 101 counties and activated additional state emergency response resources.
A woman died early Monday after her car was swept away by a flooded creek in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, the woman called 911 and complained that she was drifting downstream at a high rate of speed and was unable to get out of the vehicle. After losing contact with the woman, authorities quickly set up a water rescue team. Her car was found completely submerged in water “several miles downstream from the initial point of entry,” the sheriff said.
Some drivers in Houston were seen hitching up trailers amid the surging water, while photos from Waco, Texas, showed roads washed away by the storm.
Lefevers noted that many intersections in the county are flooded and said crews rescued another person who was stranded in a car at a flooded intersection Monday morning.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown told CNN on Monday that another person in Travis County who was stranded in a drain was rescued. As of Monday morning, about 80 low-water crossings in Travis County were flooded, Brown said.
Responders also assisted stranded drivers at two different low-water crossings in neighboring Williamson County, county spokeswoman Connie Odom told CNN.
Multiple water rescues were also conducted in Bexar County Monday morning, according to Bexar County Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Lopez.
Multiple vehicles were stranded in water on a section of Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas, Sunday night, forcing rescues, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
“We’ve never seen flooding like this in Waco,” Texas Game Warden Capt. Matthew Keel told CNN, adding that rural areas in McLennan County, where Waco is located, and most low-water crossings in Milam, Williamson and Burleson counties were flooded. Keel said Texas Game Warden had completed several water rescues throughout central Texas as of Monday morning.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, flooding stranded motorists and invaded several commercial buildings and at least one technical college building on Monday, Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Deputy John Lane told CNN. The sheriff’s office received 52 calls for water rescues in about six hours, but Lane didn’t know how many of them ultimately required rescue. No injuries were reported.
The impact is likely to be similar or even worse this week.
Here are the locations where the greatest concerns for flooding are expected in the coming days:
• Tuesday through Tuesday night: Areas of greatest flooding concern are along the southwest Texas coast and parts of central Louisiana and central Mississippi. Localized flooding is possible from central and southern Alabama to western and central Georgia.
• Wednesday through Wednesday night: The most dangerous flooding is likely to occur along the north Texas coast, including Houston and Galveston, and southwestern Louisiana, especially in areas where rainfall has already soaked into the ground since early in the week. How far west the threat of heavy rain extends is still unclear and could mean the difference between major flash flooding in Houston and no impact at all.
• Thursday through Thursday night: The greatest threat of heavy rain will occur from central Louisiana into southern and central Mississippi and Alabama. At least localized flooding is likely in the Southwest from north Texas to the north and east into Georgia, the Tennessee Valley, and the south-central Appalachians. That’s because a new cold front will help pull tropical moisture further north and east.
• Friday through Friday night: A cold front could cause at least isolated flash flooding across much of the South, but details are still unclear.
