NICHOLAS HEADS EAST, BRINGING HEAVY RAIN

Nicholas made landfall overnight in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane and quickly weakened to a tropical storm.
A flash flood warning is in effect through Wednesday afternoon. A coastal flood advisory is currently in place in Vermilion Parish until 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Nicholas made landfall about 1 a.m. Tuesday near Freeport, Texas, on that state’s central coast.
On Monday, Gov. John Bel Edwards requested a pre-landfall Federal Declaration of Emergency in a letter to President Joe Biden in advance of Nicholas.
On Sunday, Edwards declared a state of emergency, allowing the state to begin its preparations and to assist local governments as they respond. A pre-landfall federal disaster declaration would allow Louisiana to mobilize federal resources the state already has in place as well as to request additional resources if needed.
Louisiana continues to recover from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Ida, with many homes and businesses still damaged from these events. Heavy rainfall could complicate current storm recovery.
“Nicholas will likely be weakening into a depression as its center slowly moves into Louisiana early Wednesday morning and will exit into Southern Mississippi by Thursday morning,” Edwards said. “Life-threatening rainfall is our primary concern Tuesday through Thursday, with between six and 10 inches likely across Southwest and South Louisiana with locally higher amounts possible, especially given the slow storm motion.”
Flash flooding will be the greatest threat of this system, the governor said.
“It also has the potential to cause river flooding in southwest and southeast Louisiana,” Edwards said. “The ongoing storm recovery will be a compounding threat because homes are already damaged, people are already displaced and storm debris from Ida could be blocking drainage systems, causing rainwater to accumulate more quickly than normal, which will potentially enhance the flash flooding threat.”
Edwards said the relative weakness of the winds from Nicholas shouldn’t lead people to believe that it’s not dangerous.