Hurricane battered Louisiana braces for Nicholas drenching

Residents of southern Louisiana still recovering from Hurricane Ida just weeks ago were bracing Wednesday for expected heavy rains as Nicholas crawls across parts of the state from Texas.

Nicholas made landfall as a hurricane early Tuesday on the Texas coast, dumping heavy rain even though it was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm and later a depression. But forecasters said Nicholas could stall over storm-battered Louisiana and spread life-threatening floods across the Deep South over the coming days.

In a state still recovering from Category 4 storm Ida weeks ago -- as well as Category 4 Laura a year ago -- Nicholas and its potentially heavy rain bands were unwelcome news.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards warned residents to expect flash flooding and to take the storm seriously despite its lack of hurricane status.

"This is a very serious storm, particularly in those areas that were so heavily impacted by Hurricane Ida," Edwards said.