Heavy rain will sweep across eastern Texas into Louisiana and Mississippi on Thursday, raising flood risks across the Gulf of Mexico states.
Flood watches have been posted from Dallas and Houston eastward across Louisiana and Mississippi. There is also an elevated risk of severe thunderstorms, which can spawn hail and tornadoes, across central Texas putting 5.5 million people at risk, including the state’s capital Austin, the US Storm Prediction Center said.
“That area has had a lot of rain over the past month or more, rivers are still in flood and the soils are super saturated, so there is a big risk of flooding,” said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center.
Flood-prone Houston saw waters rising earlier this month, closing roads, affecting energy supplies and sending residents fleeing. Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company reduced flows on its pipeline in Texas because of the deluge.
The Trinity River in Liberty, Texas, near Houston is still in a major flood stage and is forecast to stay there for the rest of the week. The East Fork of the San Jacinto River is also still flooding, the National Weather Service said.
Oravec said the heaviest rains will move east into Louisiana and Mississippi, giving Texas a potential respite on Friday.
In other weather news:
Brazil: Catastrophic floods in Brazil will have long-lasting impacts for agriculture, with soaked soils making it harder for farmers to plant crops including rice and wheat for next season.
Tropic: There is a 40% chance a low pressure system in the eastern Pacific off Mexico could become the season’s first tropical storm in seven days, that is up from 30% earlier, the US National Hurricane Center said. There is also a growing risk of a new storm just north of Madagascar.
Sun: The Big Star spit out an X-class flare yesterday that caused a radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth for about an hour. This came from a different sunspot region than the one that caused mayhem last week. Moderate geomagnetic storms are likely in coming days, the US Space Weather Prediction Center said.
To contact the author of this story:
Brian K Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
Topics Texas Flood Louisiana Mississippi
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