Tropical Storm Vata brings winds and coastal flooding to Gulf Coast
Tropical storm-force winds are possible in parts of Texas into Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
The Gulf Coast could still see the effects of Tropical Storm Bertha’s remnants as its impact continues to diminish, National Hurricane Center forecasters said in their final advisory on the system.
As of 11:00 pm ET on July 23, the center of Bertha was located 60 miles from Houston, Texas, and was moving west at 14 miles per hour. Maximum sustained wind speeds remained at 35 mph. Vata was downgraded to a tropical storm and then to a trough.
The remnants of Bertha are expected to bring some rain to South Texas overnight, and some isolated flash flooding is possible in urban areas, but the storm’s main impacts are mostly over, the hurricane center said. According to AccuWeather, the former tropical storm brought heavy rain to parts of South Texas on July 24th.
The hurricane center said water levels in the area could remain elevated until the next storm surge.
All tropical storm and coastal watches and warnings have been canceled.
Vata developed from a tropical cyclone on July 20, becoming the second storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, but is expected to be moderate due to the calming effects of a strong El Niño storm currently underway in the Pacific Ocean.
“No further tropical development is expected across the Atlantic Basin for the remainder of July,” AccuWeather Chief Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said in a statement.
Satellite images showed the storm clearly skewed, but this was a silver lining for people in hurricane-prone areas. The nascent storm was affected by shear winds that forecasters hoped would prevent it from developing into a hurricane, the type that can sometimes develop quickly just off the Gulf Coast.
But the coast remained closed as the storm hit the Gulf Coast, damaging trees, buildings and signs in scattered locations along the coast, and SpaceX’s latest attempt to launch a giant Starship rocket from South Texas failed.
Contributor: Dinah Boyles Pulver, america today; Cheryl MacLeod, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida
