Tropical Storm Edouard is now classified as a Tropical Depression, but it continues to be a high-impact storm for Texas. After making landfall Tuesday, Tropical Storm Edouard was downgraded to a depression. I often dislike the jargon of my meteorological community because “downgraded” or “weakened” often get interpreted as “lesser impacts.” While that generally could be the case, parts of Texas are currently dealing with flood emergencies.

Earlier in the morning, I was having conversations with University of Georgia doctoral student Jordan McLeod, Bradford Johnson and Marcus Williams. We were discussing how robust the radar and satellite presentations of the storm were that far inland. It still had a very distinctive circulation, center, and convective activity. "Wind gusts to tropical-storm force are likely near the center of Edouard for the next several hours," wrote National Hurricane Center forecasters at 4:00 am CDT. "As the depression lifts slowly to the north-northwest, heavy rain bands from Edouard will begin to pull north of the Upper Texas coast and southwest Louisiana Wednesday morning, while slowly tracking across east-central Texas through Thursday morning," They went on to warn. This has led to significant flash flooding, particularly in urban areas and in rivers.

Drought conditions were prevalent in this part of Texas prior to landfall. While such rainfall can help with drought conditions, the dry land surface can actually increase runoff in the same way that urban, impervious surfaces do. The National Weather Service has issued Flood Watches and warn that 3 to 4 inches of rainfall per hour are possible. Such tropical rain rates along with rain bands moving over the same locations is leading to a very high-impact rainfall event. Reports of 1 to 2 feet of rain are already being mentioned in some media reports, and it’s not done. “A flash flood emergency — the highest level of flood warning from the National Weather Service — was issued for parts of Hardin and Tyler counties in eastern Texas early Wednesday morning,” according to CNN’s website.

Low-lying areas, roadways, and river-creek systems will become overwhelmed. It is important to remember the familiar slogan, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.” While rainfall is the primary headline, the NWS has also issued a Wind Advisory for the area through early afternoon on Wednesday.