Tropical Storm Harold Causes Heavy Rain and Power Outages in Texas
By Brandon Drenon, BBC News, Washington
Updated 42 minutes ago
Image source, NOAA via Reuters
Tropical Storm Harold made landfall on the south-east coast of Texas on Tuesday, bringing more heavy rain and high winds to the southern US. The storm has dumped up to 7 inches (17.7 cm) of rain in some parts of the state. By late Tuesday afternoon, the storm had been downgraded to a tropical depression, but heavy rains continued.
More than 23,000 people were left without power in the Lone Star state on Tuesday night. The Texas deluge arrived a day after historic amounts of rain flooded parts of the south-western US. California and Nevada were cleaning up on Tuesday after experiencing historic amounts of rain from Storm Hilary, which caused widespread flooding.
Tropical Storm Harold made landfall on Tuesday morning local time on Texas’ Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical storm warnings had been issued from the Rio Grande river – along the state’s southern boundary – to roughly 250 miles (400km) north, to the community of Port O’Connor. Scattered instances of flash flooding were still a threat, the NWS warned.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state had deployed emergency resources including rescue boats, search-and-rescue teams, and platoons from the state National Guard. Wind gusts of 59 mph were reported outside of Corpus Christi. The storm was expected to continue to bring rain, wind, and hail farther inland as it tracks westward across the hot and dry Texas landscape. Rain was expected to taper off on Wednesday.
As Texans endure the deluge, weather officials have warned of yet another tropical storm – Franklin – currently some 230 miles east off the coast of the Dominican Republican. Up to 6 inches of rain from Franklin is predicted to fall in Puerto Rico from Wednesday.
The impact of climate change on the frequency of storms is still unclear, but we know that increased sea surface temperatures warm the air above and make more energy available to drive hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. Consequently, they are likely to be more intense with more extreme rainfall.
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.