Nicholas, now tropical storm, may cause deadly flash floods in U.S.

Hurricane Nicholas, now a tropical storm, made landfall along the Texas coast on Tuesday, bringing the threat of up to 20 inches of rainfall to parts of the Gulf Coast, including the same area hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and storm-battered Louisiana.

Nicholas touched down on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and is now about 30 miles (50 kilometres) south southwest of Houston, Texas, with maximum winds of 70 mph (110 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Nicholas was the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm was moving north northeast at 9 mph (15 km/h) and the center of Nicholas was expected to move slowly over southeastern Texas on Tuesday and over southwestern Louisiana on Wednesday.  The biggest unknown about Nicholas was how much rainfall it would produce in Texas, especially in flood-prone Houston. Nearly all of the state's coastline was under a tropical storm warning that included potential flash floods and urban flooding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said authorities placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast.