Texans not too worried as tropical system approaches the coast

AccuWeather

Tropical Depression 9 is bearing down on Corpus Christi, Texas, but storm chaser Mike Scantlin reports from the scene that locals aren't too concerned.

Transcript

00:00 We're also tracking these new storms on the ground,

00:02 including one that's gonna be impacting us here,

00:05 that it should become tropical storm Herald by tomorrow

00:08 as it eyes landfall in South Texas.

00:10 Storm chaser Mike Scantlin joins us now

00:12 from North Padre Island, Texas.

00:14 Mike, can you set the scene for us there

00:16 on that barrier island of South Texas?

00:19 Give us an update on the current conditions.

00:21 - Yes, good evening.

00:23 Well, you can see it seems to be just a normal day

00:25 at the beach for most people here.

00:27 Most people that I've talked to

00:28 actually have a couple of raindrops

00:30 that just started falling on me here.

00:31 So the outer bands of this storm

00:33 are starting to move in just off shore here.

00:35 You can see this line right here

00:37 of developing cumulonimbus here,

00:39 but there's people fishing,

00:40 you got people jogging up and down,

00:41 you got people walking their dogs.

00:43 It's just another day,

00:44 just another Monday evening here on the North Padre.

00:47 - All right, Mike.

00:48 Well, so from what you say there,

00:50 people aren't really too worried right now,

00:52 but how are the locals that maybe you've talked to

00:55 preparing for this tropical system?

00:57 I mean, there is likely to be multiple types of flooding

01:00 with the coastal threats a little bit different

01:02 from what might happen farther inland.

01:04 - That's true.

01:06 We are gonna see a little bit of one to three foot storm surge

01:10 you know, for a tropical system coming in this time of year,

01:13 this is about as good as you could hope for.

01:15 But you know, this area is in a severe drought.

01:18 They need the rain really badly.

01:20 And fortunately the storm is moving just fast enough

01:23 to not really develop into anything stronger,

01:25 but slow enough to cause some issues

01:28 with that active weather storm max total

01:30 of up to 12 inches in those localized areas.

01:33 So I haven't seen anybody really preparing for anything.

01:36 I've talked to a couple of people

01:37 who are worried about this area

01:39 because it is mostly,

01:41 this coastal area is a lot of low lying areas,

01:44 a lot of just barely above sea level areas.

01:46 So this area is prone to flooding, aerial and flash flooding.

01:50 So that's gonna be the main issue here

01:52 and people aren't too worried about it.

01:54 - Okay, Mike, that's good to hear.

01:56 What are your plans during the storm?

01:57 You must have a plan in place to stay safe

02:00 while at the same time documenting the storm's impacts.

02:02 - Well, I'm kind of an extreme storm chaser at heart.

02:07 So I wanna go South to get into the main core

02:10 if it does manage to develop into something stronger,

02:13 but there's really not much South up here

02:15 between Corpus Christi and South Padre Island,

02:18 a lot of marshy areas, not a lot of roads.

02:20 Barrier Islands are just,

02:21 the roads are just barely above sea level.

02:23 So I'm not gonna chance it,

02:24 but I'll be up here covering mostly the flooding impacts

02:27 and then tomorrow we could also see some supercells

02:29 coming in on those bands as the storm moves West inland.

02:33 - That's a good point, Mike.

02:35 It's not just the tropical system itself.

02:37 It often will bring those severe thunderstorms with it.

02:40 Storm chaser, Mike Scanlon,

02:41 thank you very much for that live report

02:44 from the coast of Texas.

02:45 We appreciate it.

02:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended