Tropical storm Harold makes landfall in U.S. Texas

NEW YORK, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tropical storm Harold made landfall in U.S. south Texas Tuesday morning, where it brought heavy rain, gusty winds and some coastal flooding.

"The center of Harold pushed ashore along Padre Island, Texas, at 10 a.m. CDT," said The Weather Channel, noting that "fortunately, Harold won't last long," and "maximum sustained winds in the storm are 50 mph."

Harold will weaken as it moves inland over south Texas. It will then quickly degenerate into a remnant by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, it added.

Harold is the ninth storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, over three weeks ahead of the average season pace, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was also the fourth tropical storm to form since this past weekend, following Emily, Franklin and Gert. This is the fastest time on record four Atlantic named storms formed, according to tropical scientist Phil Klotzbach.

The storm delivered up to two inches of rain in the hardest hit areas, including at Corpus Christi International Airport, Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, was quoted by The New York Times as saying. Up to six inches could fall in some parts of the state, he said. "It's moving very quickly."

Harold, dubbed "Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine" until reaching tropical storm strength early Tuesday, could slam south Texas with up to 7 inches of rain into Wednesday, Richard Pasch, a senior meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center, was quoted by USA Today as saying. A "couple" tornadoes are possible across south Texas through the afternoon, he said.

More than 1.2 million people along the eastern coast of Texas were under a tropical storm warning as of 10 a.m. local time, according to the National Weather Service. More than 16,000 people in the state were without power, according to poweroutage.us.