System to drench Acadiana

Just what we need in Texas a little rain. Jim Bradshaw jbradshaw@theadvertiser.com Coastal Texas and southwest Louisiana braced for potentially drenching rain as a sprawling, slow-moving tropical wave dawdled north from Mexico. The system is not expected to develop into a tropical storm, but still could spell trouble because it is moving slowly and dropping a lot of water when it stalls over one place. Monday, but sustained winds were substantially lower. A buoy 60 miles south of Freeport, Texas, recorded sustained winds of 12 mph or less throughout the day Monday. Forecaster Donovan Landreneau of the Lake Charles office of the National Weather Service warns that the system could bring five to eight inches of rain in some places in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana during the next several days. Landreneau said the largest part of the widespread system appeared to be headed toward the vicinity of Tampico, Mexico, but that, because of the area covered by the thunderstorms, Texas and Louisiana will still likely get "two or three days of much-needed rainfall." "We will definitely be on the wet side of this system," he said. The system is expected to move out of South Louisiana by Thursday, but the forecast will continue to include the afternoon thunderstorms that have become a part of the recent weather pattern here. The coastal city of Veracruz, Mexico, received more than 13 inches of rain during the weekend as the storm lingered there. A weather bulletin from Corpus Christi, Texas, warns residents that "copious tropical moisture" in the system could bring flooding if the storm should move through more slowly than anticipated. In Galveston and Houston, scene of heavy rainfall and flooding in mid-June, the forecast warns, "the biggest concern is a possible flood threat Tuesday and Wednesday." The Daily Advertiser