Texas Coast Prepares For Rainy Week As Tropical Storm Beta Closes In

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Tropical Storm Beta closed in on the Texas Gulf Coast on Sunday, threatening to drench most coastal communities north of Corpus Christi and nearly all of East Texas. Forecasters warned hundreds of thousands of people in Beta’s path to prepare for an intense rainfall event by Monday night.

“Beta is moving slowly toward the west-northwest near 3 mph. A slightly faster motion toward the west-northwest is forecast to occur during the next couple of days, followed by a slow down and a turn to the north and northeast Monday night and Tuesday,” the NHC advisory explained. “On the forecast track, the center of Beta will move toward the coast of Texas and will likely move inland Monday or Monday night, and remain close to the coast of southeastern Texas on Tuesday.”

“Little change in strength is forecast during the next couple of days before Beta reaches the Texas coast. Weakening is anticipated once Beta moves inland,” forecasters explained.

A tropical storm warning was issued for the region from Port Aransas to Morgan City, Louisiana. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the region from Baffin Bay to Port Aransas. A storm surge warning was issued for the region from Port Aransas to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, “including Copano Bay, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, Matagorda Bay, Galveston Bay, Sabine Lake, and Lake Calcasieu.”

Forecasters warned coastal communities to expect heavy rains and rising waters for most of the coming week. By Saturday night, the warnings seemed to be mere formalities as rising waters slowly swallowed beaches, piers, parking lots and streets in coastal towns.

The latest track midday Sunday estimated Beta would make landfall — the moment the storm’s center moves over land — northeast of Matagorda Bay and move into East Texas. It would then steadily weaken over the Houston area, cross into Louisiana by Wednesday night as a tropical depression and continue into northern Mississippi.

The Houston region

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry signed a disaster declaration on Saturday, and emergency officials issued a voluntary evacuation order for the Bolivar Peninsula. “Residents are encouraged to seek safety inland, especially those with medical needs,” officials tweeted. “It’s expected SH87 will become impassable and ferry service may be paused in the next 24hrs.”

On late Saturday afternoon, beachgoers near San Luis Pass at Galveston Island retreated as coastal floodwaters arrived. Piers and walkways in Offatts Bayou on the Island were under water.

A storm surge warning — projected to be 2-4 feet of inundation — was in effect for the next few days for coastal communities north of Port Aransas.

The Corpus Christi region

In Nueces County, the Office of Emergency Management announced that residents should expect “4 to 6 inches of rain with isolated amounts of up to 8 inches over South Texas.” It added that they should expect flooding to accompany that rainfall. The statement also said vehicular access to area beaches would be restricted until Wednesday morning

By late Saturday afternoon, conditions were deteriorating. At Whitecap Beach, waves were high enough to spill across the sand and reach the dunes, inundating beach access roads and clearing the area of cars and most visitors.

In Port Aransas, streets and parkings lots were flooded. “Keep in mind,” the National Weather Service Corpus Christi tweeted, “that Beta is over 300 miles away from Port A.”

The Port of Corpus Christi and the U.S. Coast Guard in the South Texas region also increased their alert statuses.

The Valley and Deep South Texas

Most projections of Beta’s courses over the next few days had it landing somewhere north of Corpus Christi and moving northeastward. But that did not mean Deeep South Texas would escape unscathed. Dangerous waves and steady rains posed serious threats.

Cameron County emergency managers distributed sandbags on Saturday morning. Port Isabel also handed out sandbags, limiting them to six bags per person and only to residents.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state on Friday to prepare its resources to confront the latest crisis, and on Saturday the Texas Emergency Management Council reported it was ready.

“This storm has the potential to bring heavy rain and flooding,” Abbott said in a statement, “and I urge the people the Rio Grande Valley and the Coastal Bend to heed the guidance of local emergency officials and remain vigilant. …”

This storm was named Beta because Wilfred, the last name on the NHC’s 2020 list of “Tropical Cyclone Names,” went to a system in the eastern Atlantic that achieved tropical storm strength earlier on Friday, and the name Alpha, the first Greek name, went to a subtropical storm near the coast of Portugal.

Forecasters have not seen this level of activity since 2005.

From now until Nov. 30, any systems that emerge over the Atlantic, Gulf or Caribbean waters and achieve tropical storm or hurricane strength will receive names from the Greek alphabet.

Weather expert Philip Klotzbach tweeted on Friday that “Three Atlantic named storms have formed today: September 18, 2020 – #Wilfred #Alpha #Beta. The only other time on record that the Atlantic had 3 named storm formations on the same calendar day was August 15, 1893.”

Beta emerged near the end of a historically busy week in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf regions.

The Texas Newsroom’s Statewide Newscaster Sascha Cordner contributed to this report.

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