Nicholas moving slowly across extreme southeastern Texas, life-threatening flash floods expected across portions of the deep south during the next couple of days, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.

“Heavy rainfall will impact areas across southern and central Louisiana, southern Mississippi, far southern Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle through early Friday,” the center said, adding that significant rainfall amounts were expected, potentially resulting in areas of life-threatening flash and urban flooding across these areas.

Hurricane Nicholas has made landfall in the U.S. state of Texas. The fourteenth named storm, and sixth hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, it originated from a tropical wave first monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on September 9, moving across the western Caribbean Sea.

The system developed into a tropical storm on Sunday. Nicholas gradually intensified initially, due to the adverse effects of strong wind shear. However, late on Monday, Nicholas began intensifying at a faster rate, and at 03:00 UTC on Tuesday Nicholas intensified into a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 988 mbar (29.2 inHg). At 5:30 UTC on the same day, Nicholas made landfall in Texas near peak intensity.

The storm brought heavy rainfall and storm surge to parts of Texas and Louisiana. Some of the affected areas were still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ida, which impacted the Gulf Coast of the United States a few weeks prior.

The storm left at least 503,000 without power in Texas, mostly in the Houston area. An estimated 33% of Galveston County residents were without power. Portions of the Strand Historic District in Galveston were left underwater. The Colonial Pipeline shut down two pipelines from Houston to North Carolina due to power outages. This shutdown occurred just two weeks after the same pipelines were shut down due to Hurricane Ida.

Rain totals reached 14 inches near Galveston and Houston saw over 6 inches. Storm surge in Port O'Connor was reported to be near 4 feet. A gas station had its roof blown off in Matagorda. No injuries or deaths have been reported due to the storm in Texas.

The storm left at least 120,000 without power in Louisiana. Around 87,000 residents were still without power from Hurricane Ida when Nicholas made landfall. By early morning, heavy rains had reached New Orleans and flood warnings were reported in the New Orleans area. (ILKHA)