Storm Nicholas has made landfall in Texas just hours after being upgraded to a category 1 hurricane, with the National Hurricane Center warning that “heavy rain, high winds and dangerous [tidal] surge” are ongoing.

       Bringing windspeeds of up to 75 mph (120 kph), Nicholas touched down on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles west-southwest of Sargent Beach, Texas, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

       Nicholas is expected to impact the same area covered by Hurricane Harvey from August 2017 as well as storm-battered Louisiana. It is the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.

       President Joe Biden declared an emergency for Louisiana early on Tuesday and ordered federal assistance to supplement local response efforts, the White House said.

       “[Nicholas] will be a very slow-moving storm across the state of Texas that will linger for several days and drop a tremendous amount of rain,” Texas governor Greg Abbott said.

       The storm, putting a majority of the coastline under tropical storm warnings, is expected to bring up to 20 inches of rain to parts of the Gulf Coast and poses a threat of flash flooding and urban flooding.

       Houston is bracing for heavy rain and officials deployed high-water rescue vehicles throughout the city and barricaded more than 40 location likely to flood, mayor Sylvester Turner said.

       Mr Turner said: “This city is very resilient. We know what we need to do. We know about preparing,” as he referred to the four major flood events in the Houston area in recent years, including the extremely destructive Hurricane Harvey that killed at least 100.

       Authorities shut down a number of schools along the Texas Gulf Coast on Monday and Tuesday in the face of the incoming storm. Multiple Covid-19 testing and vaccination facilities in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas were also closed.

       While the middle and upper Texas coasts are expected to receive six to 12 inches of rain with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches possible, southeast Texas and south-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches of rain in the coming days.

       Mr Abbott has requested locals to follow weather alerts and be on guard. “Listen to local weather alerts and heed local advisories about the right and safe thing to do, and you’ll make it through this storm just like you’ve had many other storms,” Mr Abbott said.

       Calling it a “life-threatening situation”, the National Weather Service issued a range of warnings including storm surge, flood and tropical storm warnings and watches throughout the region.

       Authorities have issued a hurricane warning for Port O’Connor to Freeport along with a hurricane watch from Freeport to Galveston Island’s western tip, even though only a fraction of rain is expected to be recorded there compared to during Hurricane Harvey.

       Recommended Government to pay for home gas boilers – despite also funding switch to clean heating More than 90 arrests after climate protesters block M25 and cause huge delays Meat and dairy cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods, study says

       Additionally, tropical storm and storm surge warnings have been issued for Port Aransas to Sabine Pass. The stretch from Sabine Pass to Louisiana’s Rutherford Beach is also being monitored for a storm surge.

       The hurricane-in-the-making left nearly 50,000 people without power in Texas on Monday night, poweroutage.us showed, as sustained winds of 76 mph (122 kph) with gusts to 95 mph (153 kph) were recorded in Matagorda Bay.