Tropical Storm Beta spurs hurricane worries for Texas

A busy Atlantic hurricane season was churning along Saturday as the Texas coast prepared for a tropical storm that’s forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before breaching its shores in the week ahead.

Both the city of Galveston and Galveston County on Saturday issued voluntary evacuation orders ahead of Tropical Storm Beta, as did the city of Seabrook to the north of Galveston.

Mayor Pro Tem Craig Brown said in a statement that high tides and up to 10 inches of expected rainfall would leave roads impassable, especially along the city’s west end and lowlying areas.

County Judge Mark Henry said during a news conference that his concern is also based on rising waters creating a storm surge and that a mandatory evacuation is not expected.

“If you can survive in your home for three or four days without power and electricity, which we’re not even sure that’s going to happen, you’re OK,” Henry said. “If it’s uncomfortable or you need life support equipment, maybe go somewhere else.”

Tropical Storm Beta was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, 305 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and 245 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The system was forecast to become a hurricane on Sunday and triggered a tropical storm warning from Port Aransas, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, where thousands of people remain without power more than three weeks after Hurricane Laura slammed into the coast, there are concerns that Beta could super-soak the region once again. Up to 20 inches of rain is possible in some parts of the area, Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Lake Charles, said in a Saturday briefing.

Beta had maximum sustained winds at 60 mph and was moving northwest at 2 mph.

Forecasters were predicting up to 4 feet of storm surge along parts of the Texas coast that included Baffin Bay, Corpus Christi Bay and Galveston Bay. Wind, heavy rainfall and life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were also expected with the storm.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Teddy remained a powerful hurricane Saturday, with maximum sustained winds at 120 mph and moving northwest at 14 mp. Teddy was centered 515 miles southeast of Bermuda less than a week after Hurricane Paulette made landfall in the wealthy British territory.

Parts of the Alabama coast and Florida Panhandle were still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Sally, which roared ashore on Wednesday. At least two deaths were blamed on the system. Roughly 82,300 were still without power in the Florida Panhandle on Saturday. Gulf Power said 95% of its customers in hardest hit Escambia and Santa Rosa counties will have power restored by the end of the day Tuesday.

The Salvation Army was distributing roughly 9,000 meals Saturday at nine locations throughout the Panhandle.