Nicholas Puts More Than Half Of Louisiana On Flood Alert Despite Weakening

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Dallas Baines, 77, clears fallen tree branches Tuesday after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the Houston area. The storm will likely slow down as it heads to Louisiana, where parts of the state continue to cope with Hurricane Ida’s aftereffects.

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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Why Ida Hit The Northeast So Hard, 1,000 Miles Away From Its Landfall

Nicholas is currently 30 miles southeast of Houston, moving east-northeast at 7 mph, the hurricane center said in its 2 p.m. ET update. The storm’s maximum sustained winds have fallen to 40 mph, but it’s the rain and storm surge that forecasters said people should be wary of.

Louisiana gets a dire forecast

Parts of southern Louisiana are still coping with the effects of Hurricane Ida — including tens of thousands of people who remain without power two weeks after that storm hit. Now they find themselves being inundated by Nicholas.

Six to 10 inches of rain are expected to fall on a majority of the Louisiana coast in a warning area extending from west of Lake Charles beyond New Orleans.

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More than half of Louisiana is facing a moderate or greater risk of flash flooding due to Tropical Storm Nicholas, the National Weather Service says.

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National Weather Service

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Nicholas will slow to a crawl as it passes over Louisiana from Texas, the National Hurricane Center says.

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National Weather Service

Nicholas will slow to a crawl as it passes over Louisiana from Texas, the National Hurricane Center says.

National Weather Service

As of Tuesday morning, several storm surge and flood warnings were canceled for coastal areas south of Port Bolivar, near Galveston. But a storm surge watch remained in effect from Sabine Pass, along the Texas-Louisiana border, to Cameron, La.

«An eastward turn is expected over Louisiana by Wednesday. Little motion is anticipated on Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Climate change has been linked to the more frequent occurrence of intense hurricanes. In addition to strong winds, many of the most dangerous storms in recent years have brought tremendous amounts of rain – creating new threats to people and infrastructure far inland from the coast.