The National Hurricane Center says Nicholas became a hurricane as it approached land Monday night.
“At 1000 PM… the center of Hurricane Nicholas was expected to make landfall along the Texas coast in a few hours,” the Hurricane Center advised.
The system was forecast to move over extreme southeastern Texas on Tuesday and early Wednesday, and over southwestern Louisiana later on Wednesday.
“Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph,” the advisory noted.
A Weatherflow station at Matagorda Bay reported a 1-minute sustained wind of 76 mph gusting to 95 mph.
“Nicholas is expected to produce storm total rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches, across the upper Texas coastal areas into Wednesday.”
The Hurricane Center says rainfall from southern-central Louisiana into southern Mississippi could total 4 to 8 inches with locally higher amounts near 10 inches into Thursday.
“This rainfall may produce areas of considerable flash and urban flooding.”
