Miami.- Tropical Storm Arthur threatens the southern United States with heavy rains, potentially life-threatening flash floods, and strong winds, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported this Wednesday.
The cyclone, the first of the Atlantic hurricane season, especially threatens the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, with effects that will also extend toward Mississippi, Alabama, northwestern Florida, and even Georgia, where storm surge, dangerous surf, rip currents, and the possible formation of isolated tornadoes are also expected.
The system, which formed this Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico, was located about 35 kilometers (20 miles) north-northwest of Matagorda, Texas, and about 310 kilometers (195 miles) southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to the latest bulletin from the NHC, based in Miami.
Arthur had maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and was moving toward the north-northeast at 11 km/h (7 mph), while tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) from its center.
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The agency maintains tropical storm warnings between Sargent (Texas) and Morgan City (Louisiana), and expects Arthur to continue moving inland over southeastern Texas during the next few hours, with gradual weakening and possible dissipation between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
Meteorologists forecast rainfall totals of between 12.5 and 25 centimeters (5 to 10 inches), with isolated maximums of up to 50 centimeters (20 inches).
This is the first storm of the current Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted in May up to six hurricanes and 14 named storms in the Atlantic, below the historical average and after the 13 cyclones of 2025, when no hurricane made landfall in the United States for the first time in a decade.
