Nicholas upgraded to category 1 hurricane
Published 12:32 am Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Nicholas has become a category one hurricane, approaching the Freeport to Matagorda, Texas, coast. It is expected to move a little inland to the Houston area overnight, and then travel east along the I-10 corridor from Beaumont to Lake Charles and Lafayette today and Wednesday.
The heavy rain and flash flood threat will be highest along the I-10 corridor from Beaumont to Lake Charles and Lafayette, extending down to the coast, and perhaps extending as far north as the US 190 corridor. Five to 10 inches of rain is expected, with locally higher amounts of 15 to 20 inches possible.
“If Nicholas does not move inland near Freeport tonight, we will have to monitor for a scenario where it could come up to the Port Arthur, Texas, to Cameron region by Tuesday morning,” said Roger Erickson, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Lake Charles office. “Additional strengthening is not expected, but we could see gusty winds near hurricane force if that scenario happens. If we see hurricane force wind gusts, we will see power outages, some trees blown down, and damage to some roofs.”
In addition, tides are expected to run 2 to 4 feet above normal in Sabine Pass to Cameron, so local roads could flood during high tide overnight tonight.
