Edouard Weakens to Depression but Flood Threat Grows in Texas

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana with 60 mph winds, then weakened to a tropical depression while dumping flood-threatening rain on Southeast Texas.

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, just after 2 p.m. CDT Tuesday with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, as reported by USA Today. The storm came ashore near the Texas-Louisiana border and swept across the Beaumont metro area before weakening to a tropical depression Tuesday night with sustained winds of 35 mph, per CNN via AppleValleyNewsNow. Earlier forecasts had raised the possibility Edouard could reach hurricane strength, but the storm ran out of time over the Gulf, and a hurricane watch was dropped before landfall.

Edouard strengthened as it approached the coast but avoided the worst-case scenario of rapidly intensifying into a hurricane, and its small size limited the reach of its strongest winds, CNN reports. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center had earlier indicated the storm could become a hurricane, so the landfall at tropical-storm strength was a break for Gulf Coast residents. Still, meteorologists stress that a tropical storm is not harmless: the Weather Channel points to Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, which never became a hurricane but stalled over Texas and Louisiana, causing catastrophic flooding and more than $5 billion in damage.

The primary threat is heavy rainfall, not wind. ABC News reports that two to four inches of rain are expected near the Texas coast, with some areas north of Houston potentially seeing six to nine inches. The National Weather Service in Houston expects storm totals of three to seven inches from the upper Texas coast into east-central Texas, with isolated totals up to 12 inches, according to CNN. USA Today notes rain fell at an estimated rate of six inches per hour at one point in Port Arthur, where flash flood warnings were upgraded, and gusts of 60 to 67 mph were recorded in Jefferson County.

Power is out for more than 65,000 homes and businesses across three Texas counties, according to poweroutage.com figures cited by CNN, though FOX 26 Houston reported a different breakout as of 9:10 p.m.: Entergy Texas listed more than 65,000 customers affected while CenterPoint Energy reported 184 customers affected. Several school districts across Southeast Texas canceled classes, Houston Independent School District canceled after-school activities, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport warned travelers of possible delays and cancellations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated the state's Emergency Operations Center, mobilizing more than 1,500 response personnel with swift water rescue boats and high-water vehicles.

Edouard is the fifth named storm of a season running far below normal because of a strengthening El Niño. CNN reports the 2026 Atlantic season's activity is running just 11% of average as of August 30, the first hurricane is three weeks late, and this is the longest the Atlantic has gone without a hurricane since 2022. The Weather Channel notes Edouard took a back-door route to development, forming from an early-autumn cold front that ran out of steam near the Gulf Coast rather than marching across the Atlantic from Africa. Forecasters caution that storms can still find windows to become threats even in a muted season.

Edouard is forecast to dissipate over eastern Texas around midweek, but its rain threat lingers. The flash flooding bull's-eye shifts north on Wednesday from Houston and College Station toward just south of Dallas, per CNN, while the storm's leftover moisture could fuel scattered storms Thursday before the flood threat diminishes. Houston has staged high-water rescue vehicles and lowered the water level in Lake Houston, and residents can call 311 to report flooding and text AlertHouston to 888777 for updates, the Weather Channel reports. Direct Relief has pre-positioned hurricane preparedness packs with medications at four clinics in Beaumont, Port Arthur and Lake Charles, and is coordinating with local health authorities as the storm moves inland.