Austin Texas News

Ian intensified into a major hurricane packing sustained winds of around 125 mph early Tuesday morning just before hitting western Cuba. The powerful Category 3 storm was expected to continue strengthening as it passed over the island on a track for the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with Florida’s west coast in its path later this week.  Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday in low-lying areas surrounding Tampa Bay, and officials asked others in…

Florida residents are boarding windows and stocking up on groceries as Hurricane Ian approaches.

CBS 11 is tracking the path of Hurricane Ian.

As soon as late Monday, Ian was forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane – Category 3 or greater – and could ultimately reach Category 4.

HAVANA — Hurricane Ian moved near the Cayman Islands and closer to western Cuba early Monday on a track to hit Florida as a major hurricane this week. Ian was forecast to intensify rapidly and hit Cuba as a major hurricane late Monday, and then become an even stronger Category 4 hurricane over warm Gulf of Mexico waters before striking the west central coast of Florida on Wednesday. Authorities in Cuba suspended classes in Pinar…

Lake Buchanan in 1999, at the end of a five-year drought cycle, as the water receded more than a half mile from the normal shoreline (Photo by Kenneth E. Harker, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) “Is this the new normal?” That was the first question from Kiah Collier, reporter for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica and moderator of the “Parched” panel on Texas’s water woes at the Texas Tribune Festival. Collier could have been…

Faced with stormy weather ahead of Tropical Storm Ian, which is expected to become a hurricane, NASA managers Saturday ruled out a third attempt to launch the Artemis 1 moon rocket Tuesday but held open the option of making a run at blastoff on October 2, the current backup date. That would require leaving the $4.1 billion 330-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket exposed to the elements atop pad 39B, assuming assurances from forecasters winds would…

NASA is pressing ahead toward another attempt to launch the Artemis 1 moon rocket on its leak-delayed maiden flight Tuesday while closely monitoring the track of a potential hurricane that could bring high winds and heavy rain to the Florida Space Coast, officials said Friday. In the meantime, the Space Force Eastern Range, which oversees all military and civilian launches from Florida, granted a request from NASA to waive a time-consuming inspection of the rocket’s…

Hurricane Fiona blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remained without electricity or running water. Hurricane conditions were slamming Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said parts of the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos would experience “life-threatening” flooding Tuesday.   The…

Fiona strengthened into a major hurricane as it barreled toward the Turks and Caicos Islands Tuesday, prompting the government of the British territory to impose a curfew. “Storms are unpredictable,” Premier Washington Misick said in a statement from London, where he was attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.” Misick was scheduled to return home on Thursday. Fiona was centered about 20 miles southeast of…

The Small Business Association is aiding North Texas who were impacted by last month’s historic floods.

Hurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic on Monday after knocking out power across all of Puerto Rico, causing damage the governor said was “catastrophic.” No deaths had been reported, but authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to know the full scope of damage from an expansive storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico on Monday. Up to 30 inches was forecast for Puerto Rico’s southern…

Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico’s southwest coast on Sunday as it unleashed landslides, knocked the power grid out and ripped up asphalt from roads and flung the pieces around. Hundreds of people were evacuated or rescued across the island as floodwaters rose swiftly. Rushing rivers of brown water enveloped cars, first floors and even an airport runway in the island’s southern region. Forecasters said the storm threatened to dump “historic” levels of rain on Sunday…

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – If you’re one of the home or business owners dealing with damage caused by last month’s flooding, some new financial assistance is available.  The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest federal disaster loans to those affected between Aug. 22 and 25.  There’s still a lot of people in need of assistance in more ways than one.  It’s been about a month since flood waters rushed though Damon Chisenhall’s southeast Dallas…

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) – Governor Greg Abbott has requested a disaster declaration from the U.S. Small Business Association for those affected by the historic flooding in August.  The designation would make federal disaster assistance available for those impacted in Dallas, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, Rockwall and Tarrant Counties. In the span of 24 hours, North Texas got 9.19″ of rain. The North Texas floods as they happened 03:38 “The State of Texas continues working to ensure Texans…