United States: storm Nicholas becomes hurricane and heads towards Houston – franceinfo

Danger to come. Tropical Storm Nicholas turned into a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Texas (United States), announced Tuesday, September 14. the National Hurricane Center (NHC). He landed along the Texas coast around 5:30 a.m. GMT (7:30 a.m. KST), accompanied by winds blowing at 120 kilometers per hour, the NHC said in its latest bulletin. He heads to the city of houston with “heavy rains, strong winds and stormy disturbances towards the central and northern coasts of Texas”, added the NHC. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has asked residents to heed warnings from local authorities.

“We expect heavy rains this evening and tomorrow. I strongly encourage you not to take the road.”, urged Sylvester Turner, the mayor of Houston, a metropolis still marked by the devastating Hurricane Harvey in 2017. As of Monday evening, several roads in Matagorda and Lavaca counties, about 1.5 hours drive from Houston, had been closed due to flooding.

Schools in the Houston area will be closed on Tuesday while school activities scheduled to take place on Monday afternoon have been canceled. Up to 50 centimeters of rain could fall over southeastern Texas, weather services have warned. Storm Nicholas is expected to ease from Tuesday, while continuing its course northeast.