Tropical Storm Erin Churns Toward Texas

HOUSTON -- Tropical Storm Erin spun toward south Texas on Wednesday and is expected to make landfall early Thursday morning. The system was upgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday morning. A tropical storm warning was issued for the Texas coastline from San Luis Pass south to Brownsville. At 10 p.m., the storm was 200 miles south-southwest of Galveston and moving northwest at 14 mph. Maximum sustained winds were at 40 mph. The center of Tropical Storm Erin was near latitude 26.5 North, longitude 95.7 West

Erin is not expected to become a hurricane.

"(It will have) 50 mph winds, tops. It has not gained in strength tonight," KPRC Local 2 chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley said. "What that means is that within 24 hours the tides will go up 1 to 2 feet," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez said. "We'll see some minor beach erosion. We're not expecting anything much more than this because it is a weaker tropical storm."

Tropical Storm Erin is expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi at about 7 a.m. Thursday.

"We are not even in the cone of uncertainty. It extends to Matagorda Bay down the coast past Corpus Christi. Looks like it's going to head right into Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass area, but it could veer off toward Rockport and maybe as far north as the Palacios area," Billingsley said.

Galveston Expected To Be Spared From Direct Hit

While Galveston and Houston are not expected to take a direct hit, rain is expected to drench the area for a few days. There is a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms on Wednesday, increasing to an 80 percent chance on Thursday. Three to 5 inches of rain is likely but some isolates areas could see up to 8 inches, Yanez said. Red warning flags are flying along Galveston's seawall, but the island city has not activated its office of emergency management. "We don't think we need to open it yet. We're standing by. It can be opened at any time, but the weather report is sending the weather to the Brownsville area, not the island of Galveston," Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said. "The main topic on this system is the rainfall and the possibility of flooding," said meteorologist Bill Read of the National Weather Service. "We're looking at a large area of rain and very high moisture content coming inland with this storm. A fairly large swath of the central coast, even up into our area, is going to get 3 to 5, maybe even 8 to 10 inches of rain where the core of the heaviest rain goes, which we're thinking now will be from the Matagorda/Port O'Connor area, southward to Corpus, on up into the Hill Country as the storm moves inland. That's the area where rivers are still in flood, so that's why it's a big concern today."

The extra cloud cover has kept temperatures down. The high on Wednesday was forecast at 95 degrees, dipping down to 90 degrees on Thursday.

Gov. Rick Perry said he was sending emergency vehicles and personnel to southern Texas in advance of the weather system. "Because storms have saturated much of our state this summer, many communities in this storm's projected path are at high risk of dangerous flash flooding," Perry said in a statement hours before the tropical storm watch was issued. He said he was sending 30 vehicles and 60 Texas National Guard members to Weslaco and San Antonio, activating three helicopter rescue swimmer teams and putting six teams on standby. Volunteer organizations were being prepared to provide mass care support.

The state's disaster response team has been mobilized and set up at Martindale Army Airfield. Members of Texas Task Force One are trained in urban search and rescue techniques. "We've got food, water. We've got shelters, we've got showers, beds, everything that we need right here in order to go to a remote location and be self-sufficient as a unit," said Corey Ricketson of Texas Task Force One. Many offshore platforms have been at least partially evacuated. Shell Oil said they have taken 188 people off their platforms and have temporarily shut down production at their natural gas field on North Padre Island. Hurricane season runs from June 1 until Nov. 30.

Storms Move Into Houston Area; Damage Reported
Storms caused by the tropical depression moved through Deer Park on Wednesday morning, causing some residents headaches when several trees fell down. One of the trees fell on Jason Pete's house on 7th Street near Center Street at about 4 a.m.

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_©CNN

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A flooded street in downtown Houston as Tropical Storm Erin made landfall, bringing torrential downpours to Houston before aiming at flood-weary central Texas.

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This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Erin in the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 15. Rescue workers were activated in southern Texas in preparation for the heavy rains expected.

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Barbara Schott wades across the South Freeway to her stranded vehicle after heavy rains flooded the intersection of 288 and the 610 Loop .


Joshua Hern's truck and other cars were swept onto the train tracks during a flash flood by Reliant Park.

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Alex Porter, 18, left, and Elliott Lockwod, 17, cross paths with pedestrians after floating around a flooded Rice Village.

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Robert Delano pushes his car after it stalled in high water.

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Herb Landry of Houston uses a poncho to keep dry as he waits for his bus in southwest Houston today.

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Cars try to navigate high water on Bissonnet and Highway 59 in southwest Houston on Thursday as flooding hit the area.

_{©Houston Chronical}

Second man dies in Clear Lake store roof collapse
Floods left thousands stranded across the area

Rain pinged on the roof like falling nails and thunder exploded in a sky that had become almost dark as night. Customers at a Clear Lake strip shopping center Thursday darted for their cars or hunkered beneath overhangs, marveling that a storm that supposedly was losing its punch could be so fierce. Then, without warning, the roof of a supermarket's loading dock/storage area collapsed, crushing one worker to death. A second man died later at Ben Taub General Hospital. The Clear Lake deaths were two of at least three reported in the region Thursday as the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin — downgraded to a tropical depression shortly after coming ashore 25 miles northeast of Corpus Christi — pummeled the Greater Houston area. The deluge left thousands stranded on flooded freeways and side streets. The driver of an 18-wheeler apparently drowned late Thursday afternoon after he accidentally drove his rig into a flooded retention pond near the intersection of state highways 225 and 146 in the LaPorte area, a Harris County sheriff's spokesman said. The driver, in his late 50s, was not identified. Elsewhere in the state, three people were killed in what was called a weather-related collision near New Braunfels, and the body of a 19-year-old man was recovered from a rain-swollen creek in San Antonio.

As Erin's remnants shifted to the west, forecasters predicted more rain in Houston today — as much as 6 inches in some areas.

The identity of the Coca-Cola worker killed at the Randalls store at 2323 Clear Lake City Boulevard was withheld. The Harris County Hospital District identified Randalls employee Daniel Whitt as the second fatality in the collapse. Whitt, 26, was pronounced dead at 8:01 p.m. in the surgical ICU unit at Ben Taub , his wife and pastor by his side, said Shannon Rasp, a hospital district spokeswoman. District Fire Chief Tom Frankum said the roof collapsed about 11:30 a.m. Firefighters could see the injured man, who, though initially conscious, passed out as he was pulled from the tangle of roof trusses, sheet metal and asphalt shingles at 12:43 p.m.

Cars washed onto tracks
In Houston, the storm flooded city streets, disrupting light rail and bus service for hours. Near Reliant Park, what was described as a flash flood washed vehicles onto nearby train tracks. In Rice Village, adventurous teens rode the tumultuous water in the streets on inflated inner tubes. Reports of residential flooding, however, were sparse. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mooreland said south and southeast Houston received the worst soaking. Almost 9 inches were recorded at Hunting Bayou and Lockwood. "The area extending south toward Hobby Airport and west toward the Medical Center saw 4 to 7 inches, as did Clear Lake, Pasadena and South Houston," he said. The National Hurricane Center predicts the center of the storm will reach West Texas by 7 a.m. today and the New Mexico border by dusk. Mooreland said thundershowers, some severe, may linger in the Houston area through Saturday.

Storm moves west
As Erin drifted to the west, weather worriers turned their eyes far to the east, where Hurricane Dean stalked the West Indies with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. Meteorologists placed the storm on a westerly course, traveling about 23 mph toward Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St. Lucia. All the islands are under a hurricane warning, meaning they could be affected late today. Erin's impact on the Greater Houston area largely was limited to intense rainfall and moderate flooding. Several inches of water filled dozens of units in the Crestmont Village West Apartments at 5638 Selinsky in the Sunnyside neighborhood. And in east Houston, water infiltrated school buildings at Patterson Elementary, Bellfort Academy and DeZavala Elementary. The downpour was also blamed for a roof collapse at a warehouse behind the old Maxwell House coffee plant on Harrisburg. No injuries were reported.

About 3:30 p.m., a homeless woman — identified only as "Jay" — was rescued from a ledge of the Smith Street bridge spanning Buffalo Bayou. Water churned just about a foot from her perch as a Fire Department crew reached the scene in an inflatable boat. "The rain just got to be too much," the woman said, noting that she and a companion had chosen the ledge as a safe spot to spend the night.

Power outages
At the storm's peak, as many as 20,000 CenterPoint Energy customers were without power, officials said. That number was down to 7,000 by nightfall and crews continued to work through the night restoring power. Late in the day, the Greater Houston Area American Red Cross opened a shelter at 720 Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena. Joshua Hern said he was driving near Reliant Park about noon when a wave of water boosted his truck onto nearby train tracks. TranStar reported high water at numerous highway sites, including Texas 288 near Loop 610, where knee-deep water covered the roadway; Beltway 8 between U.S. 59 and Loop 610 East; and Beltway 8 south of Texas 225.

By late Thursday morning, 4 to 5 inches of water covered Metro light rail tracks, effectively disrupting service on the line's southern end for hours. High water on city streets Thursday afternoon caused delays on at least 17 Metro bus routes. Bayous and tributaries in the county were within their banks by noon, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Flood Control District said. Near the Galleria, pedestrians bemoaned their watery fate. "The water is moving as fast as I can walk," said Paul Kittell, who sought refuge in a restaurant. "I am watching the water rise as I am eating. It's like a tide." Californian-turned-Houstonian Sandra Major groaned, "It is terrible. I am not used to this type of rain. I'm used to a sprinkle. Now, we're going floating."

Medical Center OK
The Texas Medical Center, site of devastating flooding during Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001, locked down hospital garage floodgates just before noon when water in the nearby Harris Gully culvert reached 10 feet in depth. Harry Holmes, Medical Center senior vice president, reported localized street flooding on Holcombe, Almeda and Fannin, but said the high water posed no significant obstacle to reaching hospitals.

At the nearby Houston Zoo, workers were surprised to find poncho-covered animal lovers traipsing across the sodden grounds during a driving rain. About 150 visitors showed up, said spokesman Brian Hill. A normal summer day would draw about 3,000 visitors.

_{©Houston Chronical}