Potential Tropical Cyclone 1 could make landfall in Texas while dumping flooding rain
HOUSTON - NOTE: PTC 1 has become Tropical Storm Arthur. Updates for this story have moved here.
Potential Tropical Cyclone (PTC) 1 could make landfall in Texas on Wednesday while dumping flooding rain on the Houston region.
According to the National Hurricane Center, PTC 1 is forecast to become Tropical Storm Arthur sometime Wednesday. The forecast cone has the center of the system passing over parts of Texas as it moves toward its ultimate destination – Louisiana.
(FOX Weather)
"Potential Tropical Cyclone" is a designation given to a disturbance that is likely to become a tropical system, but has not yet reached that status. This is usually reserved for systems that are causing impacts on land.
A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the Texas Gulf Coast from Sargent, Texas, to Sabine Pass. A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for parts of Louisiana.
(FOX Weather)
If it does become Arthur, it would be the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.
Life-threatening flooding threat covers Texas coast
No matter whether PTC 1 becomes Arthur, the disturbance is bringing heavy rain to the Texas coast and raising the threat of flooding across the region.
Gallery: Photos, videos of Houston street flooding, rain amid Flood Watch
Heavy rain is falling across Houston on Monday as Southeast Texas remains under a Flood Watch through Thursday. See a gallery of photos and videos.
Potential Tropical Cyclone One is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches, with isolated higher totals near 20 inches, through early Friday from the Mid and Upper Texas coast east-northeast into southern and central portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, along with western portions of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle," NHC forecasters wrote in their advisory. "This could generate dangerous to life-threatening flash flooding."
A Level 2 out of 4 flood risk covers part of the Texas coast.
(FOX Weather)
Flood watches and warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service for parts of the Texas Gulf Coast. This includes the Houston metro area.
(FOX Weather)
It is never safe to drive through water covering a roadway. Remember the adage: Turn around, don’t drown.
The Source: Information in this story came from the National Hurricane Center, NOAA, the Weather Prediction Center and the National Weather Service.