A tropical storm is coming for the Houston area. Here’s how officials are responding – Houston Public Media

A tropical storm is coming for the Houston area. Here’s how officials are responding  Houston Public Media

City, county and state officials are preparing for what forecasters expect will be a tropical storm making landfall in southeast Texas. Though the worst of the storm is expected to be east of Houston, flooding could pose an issue. Tropical Storm Edouard developed late Monday evening before its expected landfall in southeast Texas, becoming the first major storm of hurricane season in Texas. Public officials and energy suppliers said they were prepared to withstand the storm. As of Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center forecasted the storm would bring maximum winds of 35 miles per hour. A tropical storm warning was in effect east of Bolivar. Though the system is officially a tropical storm, meteorologists predicted it would be a short-lived one.

The center of the storm was expected to reach the Gulf Coast on Tuesday and move further inland into Tuesday evening. Harris and Galveston Counties were under a flood watch from 1 a.m. Tuesday through 7 a.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service projected most areas would see rainfall of up to 3 to 5 inches, with some isolated areas seeing 6 to 9 inches. Meteorologists with NWS predicted, though, there would be a narrow threshold between areas seeing little to no rain and areas with several inches of rain. Here's how energy officials and city, county and state