Texas ports close to inbound traffic ahead of storm

The Texas ports of Corpus Christi, Freeport, Houston, Galveston and Texas City will be closed to inbound traffic at 12pm ET today, as tropical storm Nicholas approaches.

The US Coast Guard will set the ports to status Yankee, meaning gale force winds are expected within 24 hours and the port is closed to inbound traffic.

The storm will come ashore later this evening near Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast as a strong tropical storm but could develop hurricane intensity by the time it makes landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Heavy rainfall will hit parts of the Texas and Louisiana coasts through the middle of the week with the potential for flash and urban flooding, while dangerous storm surges are possible from Port Aransas to San Luis Pass as of 11am ET on 13 September.

The Port of New Orleans is currently open and the Mississippi River is open with restrictions from mile-marker 108 to mile-marker 167.5, according to the US Coast Guard.

By Liz Ramanand