HOUSTON (AP) â?? Tropical Storm Beta stalled out Tuesday along the Texas coast, flooding streets in Houston and Galveston hours after making landfall amid an unusually busy hurricane season. The storm made landfall late Monday just north of Port Oâ??Connor, Texas, and has the distinction of being the first time a storm named for a Greek letter made landfall in the continental United States. Forecasters ran out of traditional storm names last week, forcing the use of the Greek alphabet for only the second time since the 1950s. Early Tuesday, Beta was 10 miles (15 kilometers) east-southeast of Victoria, Texas, with maximum winds of 40 mph (64 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving toward the northwest near 3 mph (4 kilometers) and is expected to stall inland over Texas through Wednesday. â??We currently have both storm surge and rainfall going on right now,â? said National Weather Service meteorologist Amaryllis Cotto in Galveston, Texas. Cotto said 6-12 inches (15-30 centimeters) of rain has fallen in the area, with isolated amounts of up to 18 inches (45 centimeters). Dangerous flash flooding is expected through Wednesday, Cotto said. Beta was the ninth named storm that made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. That tied a record set in 1916, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. Beta was forecast to eventually move over Louisiana and Mississippi on Wednesday night through Friday, and the biggest unknown was how much rainfall it could produce. Beta was expected to weaken into a depression, but flash flooding was possible in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi as the system moves farther inland. Earlier predictions of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) in some areas were downgraded Monday to up to 15 inches (38 centimeters). Forecasters and officials reassured residents Beta was not expected to be another Hurricane Harvey or Tropical Storm... |