Edouard hits the Texas-Louisiana line, then fades over east Texas

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, at about 2:20 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, 1 September, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. It was the fifth named Atlantic storm of 2026 and the first to come ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast this season. None of the five had reached hurricane strength.

By Tuesday night the National Hurricane Center had cut it to a tropical depression with 35 mph winds. The 4 a.m. CDT advisory on Wednesday put the centre near 30.8 north, 95.0 west, about 70 miles northwest of Beaumont and 30 miles south-southwest of Lufkin, drifting north-northwest at 5 mph. Central pressure was 1004 millibars. Forecasters expect the system to fall apart Wednesday night.

Rain is the lasting hazard. The hurricane centre and Weather Prediction Center put storm-total rainfall at 4 to 8 inches along the path, with local amounts up to 12 inches from the upper Texas coast into east-central Texas. Southwestern Louisiana was expected to see less. Water stood 1 to 2 feet above normal tide in parts of southwestern Louisiana at landfall. Gusts hit 71 mph near the state line, 52 mph at Calcasieu Pass and 46 mph in Cameron.

Jefferson County, which includes Beaumont, saw about 32,000 customers lose power at the peak on one count, though later utility tallies were lower. Beaumont city offices closed. The Texas Office of Emergency Management told people to stay off flooded roads. Port Arthur's mayor signed a disaster declaration. Crystal Beach businesses shut early so staff could get home.

Gulf oil and gas output was largely undisturbed. East Texas refineries took precautionary steps. Warm Gulf water near 90 degrees Fahrenheit had allowed a late burst of strength just before landfall, which is why a system that looked modest on Monday arrived at 60 mph.

Three named storms were also turning in the Pacific, including Lowell at hurricane strength, a reminder that September is the dense part of both basins. Edouard itself will be a rain and power story in the pine woods between Beaumont and Lufkin rather than a surge story on the coast.

Flood watches remained in force from the upper Texas coast into eastern Texas on Wednesday morning. That is the sentence that still matters for county judges and river offices: the wind has dropped, the rain has not finished.