Abbott orders resources deployed as Tropical Storm Nicholas takes aim at Texas coast
Tropical Storm Nicholas, taking shape in the Gulf of Mexico, poses a threat of flooding for Texas coastal cities and Louisiana, but the National Weather Service in Fort Worth isn’t expecting any major impacts to North Texas weather.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday ordered a deployment of resources to the coast, ranging from Beaumont to the Rio Grande Valley, in case the storm leads to flooding in any of those areas, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
The governor has activated the Texas A&M Engineering Resources Extension with resources for swift water rescue, Texas Game Warden resources for water rescue, the Texas Military Department’s five ground transportation platoons with high-profile vehicles and the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Medical Task Force to respond to any potential severe weather.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, National Weather Service meteorologist Allison Prater said the right climate conditions could push rain into the area but at this point that is not something the weather service is expecting.
Nicholas formed near the coast of Mexico around 11 a.m. Sunday and is expected to move to the north-north west, possibly hitting Texas coastal cities and Louisiana. The coastal region could get 5 to 10 inches of rain, or as much as 15 inches in isolated areas.
Louisiana is still recovering from Hurricane Ida, which wreaked havoc in the state on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and moved up the east coast, leading to extensive damages, power outages, flooding, heavy rains and canceled flights.
The National Hurricane Center currently predicts the path of the storm as making its initial landfall somewhere just south of the border Monday and approaching the middle and upper Texas coast on Tuesday, with remnants of the storm possibly reaching the DFW metroplex later in the week. The center’s current predictions show the storm hitting the entire Texas coast and parts of Louisiana, but does not forecast Nicholas hitting New Orleans at this time.
Even with that predicted path, the National Weather Service station in Fort Worth does not expect any major impacts to the North Texas region.
This story was originally published September 12, 2021 at 12:57 PM.