Grace Downgraded As Storm Hits Texas

A weakening Tropical Storm Grace was downgraded to a depression Sunday as it blew onto the Texas central coast with locally heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center discontinued its tropical storm warnings for the coast by late morning. The warning had been in effect along a 200-mile stretch of Texas coast from Corpus Christi to High Island, midway between Galveston and Port Arthur.

Far out in the Atlantic, the year’s first major hurricane, Hurricane Fabian, was gathering strength but was still several days from landfall.

Rain from Grace had been falling across parts of eastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana since Saturday night. Up to 6 inches of rain had been measured by midday in some areas of Texas, meteorologists said.

Lake Charles, La., got a “good little thunderstorm” early Sunday but tides, not rain, were the biggest concern, said Dick Gremillion, head of Calcasieu Parish’s emergency preparedness department.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Grace’s poorly defined center was approximately at the coast in the area of Port O’Connor, about 75 miles northwest of Corpus Christi, the hurricane center said.

The storm’s maximum sustained wind had decreased to about 35 mph, below the 39 mph threshold for tropical storms, and it was expected to continue weakening. Grace was moving toward the northwest at about 15 mph but its forward motion was likely to slow, the hurricane center said.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Fabian, the third hurricane of the Atlantic season, was still several days from land, the National Hurricane Center said.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Fabian was about 550 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands and moving west at 13 mph. Fabian was expected to curve northward and head somewhere between Puerto Rico and Bermuda over the next five days.

Its maximum sustained wind blew at 125 mph, up from 75 mph a day earlier, making it a Category 3 hurricane.

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On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/