Tropical Storm Edouard moves toward Texas

NEW ORLEANS — The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for the coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas.

The watch issued Sunday night means that hurricane conditions are possible from Tropical Storm Edouard within the next 24 hours from Intracoastal City to Port O'Connor, Texas.

The fifth named storm of the 2008 hurricane season has sustained maximum winds of about 50 miles per hour.

At 10 p.m. CDT, Edouard was located about 80 miles east-southeast off the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 390 miles east of Galveston, Texas.

It was moving west at 5 mph and was expected to strengthen before making landfall Tuesday morning in Texas.

Comments

[TXCourtney]

12:45 PM on 08/04/2008

dogbane, with all due respect, no need for all the hysteria.

I lost my first car in Tropical Storm Allison (water up to the top of the steering wheel), and trust me when I say Ed is no Allison. The reason Allison hit us Houstonian­s so hard was because it had been raining for a solid week before hand and the water table was extremely high. Mostly we're just looking forward to the rain! As long as people don't freak out and try to evacuate all at once (as in Rita) we'll be just fine. Appreciate all the supportive comments, though. :-)

[racetoinfinity]

03:35 PM on 08/04/2008

No. the reason we had terrible flooding in the inner districts of Houston with Allison was that the storm stalled over us and rained TWENTY inches in an eight-hour period, unheard of, practicall­y. It ruined billions of dollars of medical research in the Texas Medical Center; they now have better precaustio­ns there against a catastroph­ic flood.

[Moonflowrr]

11:18 AM on 08/04/2008

This damn storm wasn't even in existence 24 hrs. ago! WTF happened?

[mh01]

02:17 PM on 08/04/2008

Global warming.

[cc]

10:53 PM on 08/04/2008

Political climate change. Not kidding.

[andvoodoo2]

02:42 PM on 08/04/2008

I live in New Orleans. We first heard about Katrina on Friday. It glanced NO the following Monday. The levees failed on Tuesday. (BTW, it takes more than 48 hours to evacuate this city. The traffic jams were so bad leaving NO that I know people who it took 10 hours to drive to Baton Rouge which is normally an hour and a half drive.)
I first heard of this storm yesterday. Today we're gassing up the cars and buying supplies (just in case).
It seems like storms are cropping up much faster than they used to.

[LeftVetPatriot]

10:54 AM on 08/04/2008

Hang tough, Y'all!

[TXfemmom]

10:49 AM on 08/04/2008

You guys need to understand that if this storm hits the Houston/Ga­lveston area the price of gasoline and other things will jump dramatical­ly, as the speculator­s will use it as an excuse. So much of the country's oil and gas facilities are here, and much of the gasoline processed here, and if they burp the price goes up.

Even a category 1 can cause tremendous damage and problems, as we got hit by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and it caused tremendous damage via flooding and nearly 40 inches of rain.

[charon]

12:12 PM on 08/04/2008

The slow-movin­g, so-called "weak" ones often drop more rain as they tend to hang around longer, while the stronger ones blow themselves out faster. Not a good prospect either way. I hope you and your loved ones will be safe from harm, TXfemmom.

[ohiomark]

12:20 PM on 08/04/2008

All the more reason to drill in other parts of the country that are not at risk from these storms.

The more supply that is available in the market, the less impact a storm like this will have on prices.

[rosecar]

03:03 PM on 08/04/2008

Where is that?

[robiform]

03:27 PM on 08/04/2008

How about if the oil companies start drilling in your backyard? Or maybe on the playground where your kids play?? Yeah, your gasoline will be a few cents cheaper, but there go your property values!

I've got a news flash for you--any place in the world is prone to some kind of natural disaster at some point. Hurricanes­, tornadoes, earthquake­s, volcanoes, etc. are just a few of the factors that have to be considered­. The Gulf of Mexico is a drilling area that's easily accessible for the oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana, so that's why there are all those offshore rigs. Hopefully, this will not be a long-lasti­ng storm for all the folks along the Gulf!

[conscioushope]

10:10 AM on 08/04/2008

We live about 30 miles from the coastline where Ed is expected to rudely enter.

However, we are proudly displaying OBAMA posters in all of our upstairs, southerly facing windows! I hope they can "face the storn" well!

[qdemn7]

07:16 AM on 08/04/2008

God, please send us some rain in N. Texas, we could use about a foot.

[spicegal]

07:13 AM on 08/04/2008

Hmm, these storms don't seem to like Texas. Wonder why.

[andvoodoo2]

02:44 PM on 08/04/2008

It's a big state. BTW, B u s h wasn't born in Texas. He was born in Maine.

[andvoodoo2]

02:49 PM on 08/04/2008

My bad. He was born in Connecticu­t.

[indypete]

05:31 AM on 08/04/2008

I can see the headlines now.

Hurricane Edouard blasts Galveston, does 23 million dollars worth of improvemen­ts.

[Richardo]

09:30 AM on 08/04/2008

That is hilarious. ;-)

[andvoodoo2]

02:45 PM on 08/04/2008

I used to work in Texas (maritime law) and had many clients in the Galveston area. They were all nice people. I was especially struck by what compassion­ate people they were.

[brakmaster]

03:47 PM on 08/04/2008

Galveston is a wonderful town, full of beautiful buildings that range from 1 to 150 years old. I'm a little up the road, and this is the second-bes­t place I have lived in Texas (with Austin being number one). Lots of good, progressiv­e people here. I don't know about my neighbors, but I am fully stocked on rum for Eduoard's visit.

[cowboyneok]

03:13 AM on 08/04/2008

Category One Hurricane? yawn...

[NealHib]

02:02 AM on 08/04/2008

Why does God hate Texas?

[darthdarcy]

02:14 AM on 08/04/2008

Because it's America's Babylon...

[LudwigVan]

06:43 AM on 08/04/2008

More like America's Najd. Texas is to Christiani­ty what Saudi Arabia is to Islam.

[strandwolf]

02:43 PM on 08/04/2008

I for one would prefer that all the hokum regarding religion and politics be kept separate from meteorolog­ical phenomena. Not to include valid scientific observatio­ns and their confirmati­onal or refutation­al pertinance to global warming hypotheses­. Let us pray....

[vippy]

06:57 AM on 08/04/2008

Gosh we need some rain. Last time it rained was the middle of May. Everything is scorched here and I am afraid I am losing my big trees. I water for hours every day but it is just not the same.
Leaves are turning yellow. Grass feels like walking over cornflakes­. I don't remember such a long
time going without any rain at all. How I had welcomed the flood 2 years ago.

[dadw5boys]

01:40 AM on 08/04/2008

With luck it would set on Crawford Texas for about 8 years then we would be even!!!!!!

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

01:10 AM on 08/04/2008

Crawford is in N. Texas, this is threating the coastal areas ....The last thing I need is a storm!!!! Go away Ed

[Texas4Obama]

03:46 AM on 08/04/2008

Crawford, Texas is not really very north.

[LudwigVan]

06:45 AM on 08/04/2008

It's in Central Texas, west of Waco. Very much in tornado country.

[darthdarcy]

12:11 AM on 08/04/2008

How far is that from Crawford..­?