Nicholas becomes hurricane and could produce "life-threatening flooding" across Texas Gulf Coast

Nicholas has strengthened into a hurricane late Monday ahead of making landfall along the central Texas coast in the coming hours, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm is threatening the region with "life-threatening" rainfall, strong winds and storm surges to portions of the central and upper Texas coasts, forecasters said. Millions of residents are under flash flood warnings.

As of late Monday, Nicholas was about 20 miles south-southwest of Matagorda, Texas, and about 45 miles southwest of Freeport, Texas, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, the hurricane center said. The storm could produce 6 to 12 inches, with as much as 18 inches in isolated areas, across the Texas coast. Forecasters said "life-threatening" flash flooding is possible along the upper Texas coast and southern-central Louisiana. They said southeast Texas, southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches of rain.