Texas, Louisiana Prepare for Twin Tropical Storms

A storm surge warning remained in effect from Morgan City to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where 2 to 4 feet of storm surge was possible. A tropical storm warning was still in effect from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama and Mississippi border, an area that includes New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. The mayor of Port Arthur, Texas has announced the city will be issuing a mandatory evacuation of the city, scheduled now for 6 a.m. Tuesday. Jefferson County will also have mandatory evacuations.

Marco is expected to near Louisiana by Monday afternoon, and will then turn northwest and remain along the coast for a time. Once Marco makes landfall, the storm is expected to produce an average of 3 to 5 inches of rain, and in some areas up to 10 inches, for portions of the Gulf Coast through Monday night. Isolated tornadoes were also possible.

Marco was forecast to finally weaken Monday night and dissipate by Tuesday.

As soon as Marco tapers off, Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to be bigger and stronger. When Laura enters the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, the forecast may really get interesting.

Right now landfall is projected to be late Wednesday or early Thursday as a strong 105 mph Category 2 storm, borderline Category 3, near the Texas and Louisiana border. Meteorologists are unsure how strong Laura will get.

From late Wednesday through Friday, Laura is expected to produce rainfall of 5 to 10 inches, locally up to 15 inches, near the Texas and Louisiana border north into portions of the lower Mississippi Valley.

Laura may rapidly intensify, in which case maximum sustained winds would have to increase by 35 mph in 24 hours.

This will be important to watch, as a stronger Laura would head more west toward Houston whereas a weaker storm would be steered more toward the Texas and Louisiana border.

Travel Restrictions 

A couple of states have updates available, while other states are waiting to see how the storms progress. Currently, there are no other official oversize travel restrictions in place by any state DOTs, but some could be announced soon, including permit changes and delays.

Any load over 14-6 tall, 10-0 wide, 80-0 long or 80,000 pounds cannot travel until further notice.

If a driver can’t see 1,000 ft. in front, no travel is allowed.

Motor carriers transporting a divisible load that is overweight only to and within the areas affected by Tropical Storms Marco and Laura may self-issue a Federal Disaster Relief Permit through the Texas Permitting and Routing Optimization System (TxPROS). https://txpros.txdmv.gov/. The Federal Disaster Relief Permit allows for travel on all state and federal roads, including the interstate highway system. The permit may not be used for overwidth, overlength, or overheight loads. A copy of the President’s declaration must be carried with the permit. The declaration can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/ or https://www.fema.gov/disasters/disaster-declarations.