Hurricane hits east of Houston

Houston Chronicle:

Hurricane Humberto blasted Beaumont with wind winds up to to 85 miles an hour this morning after forming suddenly and making landfall in Southeast Texas at about 2 a.m. this morning.

The hurry-up hurricane brought 16 inches of rain to the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County just before landfall about 5 miles east of High Island, the National Weather Service reported. The Bolivar Ferry from Galveston to the peninsula was running today but Highway 87 was closed from Crystal Beach toward High Island and Highway 124, officials said.

Along with the deluge, Humberto pounded Chambers, Jefferson and Orange counties with hurricane-force of winds at 5:30 a.m. today as the storm made its way through East Texas and into west-central Louisiana. The storm was tracking northeast at about 10 miles an hour, said Michael Marcotte, a meteorologist at the weather service's Lake Charles, La., office.

In Orange County's Bridge City, residents awoke today to flying pieces of debris, waving power poles and the sounds of roaring winds as the city took the brunt of Hurricane Humberto.

There were numerous reports of power outages in the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas and daylight is expected to reveal considerable damage in the area, Marcotte said.

Marcotte said he was on the telephone with a Port Arthur resident at 4:30 a.m. when the man described the roof of an apartment building near his home blowing off and landing on four vehicles parked nearby.

Power appeared to be out over most of Bridge City and flashes in the distance indicated transformers blowing throughout southern Orange County. On the south end of Texas Avenue, metal was being ripped from the roof of a shopping center.

In Beaumont by 5 a.m., water was knee-deep in some streets in Old Town, road underpasses were flooded and trees and power lines were reported down throughout the city.

Entergy spokeswoman Debi Derrick said today an estimated 75,000 customers are without power this morning in storm-struck areas and it could be days before all are restored.

"We have not had an opportunity to get our scouts out onto the ground," Derrick said before sunrise. "But we have all hands on deck and we expect to have a full assessment by about noon today."

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This storm appears to be taking a path similar to Rita two years ago which look like it was headed for a direct hit on Houston before drifting east and hitting along the border with Louisiana. It is well east of Washington, Texas and we are unlikely to get any of the rain or wind from the storm. I may get some reports from Lafayette, Louisiana later and will update if anything is happening.

Update: AP/NOLA reports that Humberto has drifted into Louisiana with the outer bands already reaching Baton Rouge. Some schools have closed and heavy rains are reported, but so far there are no reports of flooding or wind damage. It did take my brother in law 11 hours to drive from Houston to Lafayette last night. I am sure his windshield wipers got a workout.