Beta’s biggest threat? Buckets of rain

HOUSTON — Parts of Texas and Louisiana braced Monday for flooding and damaging storm surge as Tropical Storm Beta slowly worked its way into a part of the country that’s already been drenched and battered during this year’s exceptionally busy hurricane season.

The storm was no longer expected to gain hurricane strength and forecasters decreased estimated rainfall totals from Beta early Monday, saying in a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory that up to 15 inches of rain could fall in some areas. That’s down from earlier predictions of up to 20 inches.

The system’s slow movement and storm surge, however, were generating concerns in coastal communities. Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph Monday morning. Beta was moving west at 7 mph at about 10 a.m., forecasters said. Storm surge up to 5 feet was forecast from San Luis Pass to Sabine Pass in Southeast Texas.

Beta was set to make landfall along Texas’ central or upper Gulf Coast late Monday, forecasters said. It was then expected to move northeastward along the coast and head into Louisiana sometime midweek, with rainfall as its biggest threat. Forecasters said flash flooding was possible in Arkansas and Mississippi as the system moves further inland.

Forecasters said Beta was not expected to bring the same amount of rainfall that Texas experienced during either Hurricane Harvey in 2017 or Tropical Storm Imelda last year. Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on Houston and caused $125 billion in damage in Texas. Imelda, which hit Southeast Texas, was one of the wettest cyclones on record.

The first rain bands from Beta reached the Texas coast on Sunday, but the heaviest rain wasn’t expected to arrive until late Monday into Tuesday.

Beta was churning slowly through the Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning about 55 miles southeast of Port O’connor, Texas, and 75 miles southsouthwest of Freeport, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.