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Tropical Depression Grace Brings Flood Threat to Texas

Aired September 01, 2003 - 10:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: An emergency official says it won't stop raining. Tropical Storm Grace washed ashore, was downgraded to a tropical depression, and is busy now drenching the central Texas coastal area with pounding rain. As much as a foot of rain could fall in some places there, and that emergency official says he can guarantee flooding in some areas. And residents are now advised to evacuate low-lying homes.
For more on all of this and all things weather, Jacqui Jeras joining us now from the Weather Center.

An awful lot going on, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really. A very busy day, Heidi. And a lot of people traveling today, too. And, of course, it's the holiday. A lot of people probably wanting to head to the beach.

Well, you're not going to be able to do it throughout much of the Texas coast today, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Grace still brings in some heavy rainfall to the west of the Galveston area over towards Highlands.

We could be picking up another three to five inches of rain on top of what you already have. And Doppler radar is estimating between Houston and Galveston somewhere between about 13 and 15 inches of rainfall throughout the weekend.

So that is some heavy rain, and flooding, of course, is going to be a concern.

OK. We've got a couple of other tropical systems to talk about.

Hurricane Fabian. Best thing I can tell you about this one is that it doesn't look like it's going to be making any type of an impact or direct landfall here. Within the next couple of days, it's going to be moving to the north of the Leeward Islands.

But this is a very strong category four hurricane packing winds of 140 miles per hour. We're going to have to be keeping an eye on this one for later in the week and see what kind of impact it may be having on the U.S. coastline.

Over to Hawaii now, we have another hurricane here, Jimena, and this one is packing winds around 75 miles per hour. So minimal category one hurricane, tropical storm warnings, and also hurricane watches in effect for the big island.

Our biggest problem here is going to be the heavy rainfall. It will be skirting south of the islands, but six to 10 inches of rain's going to be possible. That means flooding problems and also the threat of some mud slides.

Back here at home, we have some flooding problems here as well, not only in Texas, but we're also going to be focusing across the middle Mississippi River Valley and also across the Ohio River Valley where rainfall amounts will be ranging from one to three inches today.

Not a lot of rain but very warm and very muggy across the sunshine state. Isolated thunderstorms here. Rain is already across much of the Northeast. Keeping you cooler, though. Hey, you've been complaining about the heat. How about highs in the 70s today? We'll see upper 70s in the Ohio Valley, and that's where we're going to see the heavy rain and some of the flooding problems.

Best weather bet is across the West. We'll talk more travel weather a little later this hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 1, 2003 - 10:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: An emergency official says it won't stop raining. Tropical Storm Grace washed ashore, was downgraded to a tropical depression, and is busy now drenching the central Texas coastal area with pounding rain. As much as a foot of rain could fall in some places there, and that emergency official says he can guarantee flooding in some areas. And residents are now advised to evacuate low-lying homes.
For more on all of this and all things weather, Jacqui Jeras joining us now from the Weather Center.

An awful lot going on, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really. A very busy day, Heidi. And a lot of people traveling today, too. And, of course, it's the holiday. A lot of people probably wanting to head to the beach.

Well, you're not going to be able to do it throughout much of the Texas coast today, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Grace still brings in some heavy rainfall to the west of the Galveston area over towards Highlands.

We could be picking up another three to five inches of rain on top of what you already have. And Doppler radar is estimating between Houston and Galveston somewhere between about 13 and 15 inches of rainfall throughout the weekend.

So that is some heavy rain, and flooding, of course, is going to be a concern.

OK. We've got a couple of other tropical systems to talk about.

Hurricane Fabian. Best thing I can tell you about this one is that it doesn't look like it's going to be making any type of an impact or direct landfall here. Within the next couple of days, it's going to be moving to the north of the Leeward Islands.

But this is a very strong category four hurricane packing winds of 140 miles per hour. We're going to have to be keeping an eye on this one for later in the week and see what kind of impact it may be having on the U.S. coastline.

Over to Hawaii now, we have another hurricane here, Jimena, and this one is packing winds around 75 miles per hour. So minimal category one hurricane, tropical storm warnings, and also hurricane watches in effect for the big island.

Our biggest problem here is going to be the heavy rainfall. It will be skirting south of the islands, but six to 10 inches of rain's going to be possible. That means flooding problems and also the threat of some mud slides.

Back here at home, we have some flooding problems here as well, not only in Texas, but we're also going to be focusing across the middle Mississippi River Valley and also across the Ohio River Valley where rainfall amounts will be ranging from one to three inches today.

Not a lot of rain but very warm and very muggy across the sunshine state. Isolated thunderstorms here. Rain is already across much of the Northeast. Keeping you cooler, though. Hey, you've been complaining about the heat. How about highs in the 70s today? We'll see upper 70s in the Ohio Valley, and that's where we're going to see the heavy rain and some of the flooding problems.

Best weather bet is across the West. We'll talk more travel weather a little later this hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com