Tropical update: Texas braces for dangerous floods, surge

The immense tropical system moving over the Gulf of Mexico, now Tropical Storm Alberto, threatens parts of Texas with dangerous floods as well as storm surge. Let’s dive into what’s happening!

Tropical Storm Alberto formed Wednesday late-morning and has made its turn to the west-northwest and has already churned the seas and increased wave action along the entire Texas coast. It has brought heavy rain bands ashore too. Our reporter Jonathan Petramala caught some views early Wednesday morning of storm surge hitting hitting Surfside Beach.

Alberto will continue to inch closer to the Northeast coast of Mexico, but this storm sets a perfect example of what we always tell you – don’t focus just on the cone! The storm will bring impacts well outside of the cone of uncertainty and over 600 miles away from its landfall. Heavy rain bands with high rainfall rates will continue to arrive in Texas on Wednesday. Through Thursday afternoon, there could be a total of over 15 inches in some spots, especially along the Central coast of the Lone Star State.

Storm surge will also cause problems, more so over the Southeastern Coast of Texas, in the Galveston area of up to 4 feet. The storm is set to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday morning and its rain will move inland over west Texas, New Mexico, and over northern Mexico, where there could be mudslides, over the mountains. We will continue to bring you updates throughout the day.