Aug 3, 2008 11:49 pm US/Central
Tropical Storm Edouard Moves Toward Texas
MIAMI (AP) ―
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Tropical Storm Edouard formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 3, 2008.
NOAA/NESDIS Satellite Services Division
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
Tropical Storm Edouard formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, and forecasters expected it to bring high winds and several inches of rain to the coasts of western Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center made Edouard, packing 45-mph winds, the fifth tropical storm of the 2008 hurricane season. They expected the storm to strengthen and said it could reach hurricane strength by the time it made landfall in Texas sometime Tuesday.
While southwestern Texas still recovers from the damage of last month's Hurricane Dolly, the other end of the state's coast braced for several inches of rain and a potential storm surge.
Krista Piferrer, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said Sunday that state emergency management officials were monitoring the storm and getting updates through conference calls with the National Weather Service.
"Because it might make an impact to the Texas shore, we're looking at activating resources, including search and rescue and maybe military forces," including the Texas National Guard, Piferrer said.
State emergency management officials were also conducting conference calls with officials from communities along the Texas coast, from Port O'Connor to Port Arthur, that could be affected by Edouard.
Rainfall of 1 to 2 inches was expected in coastal Louisiana. About 2 to 4 inches was possible in southeast Texas, with isolated amounts up to 6 inches. Tides of 2 to 4 feet above normal levels were expected in parts of the warning area.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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