More than a week after the remnants of Tropical Storm Edouard stalled over the Texas-Louisiana border and dumped upward of 20 to 22 inches of rain in spots, families in the hardest-hit counties are still hauling out ruined drywall, furniture, and flooring. The storm made landfall near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, on September 1, but its slow-moving remnants kept flooding homes and roads well after the initial landfall, according to CNN’s coverage of the storm.
Where the Rain Hit Hardest
The Texas Tribune reported that Hardin County saw between 18 and 20 inches of rain over two days, nearly four times the average total rainfall the region typically sees for the entire month of September. Polk County, Jefferson County, and communities near the Louisiana line, including Kountze, Honey Island, and Village Mills, also took on significant flooding.
Emergency crews pulled a dozen motorists from flooded roadways in Hardin County alone and rescued two residents from a flooding home. An assisted living facility in the area sustained damage severe enough that all 21 residents had to be evacuated. Roughly ten structures were damaged by fallen trees.
Louisiana’s Damage Was Different, Not Lighter
Rainfall in Louisiana was less extreme than the East Texas totals, but storm surge did its own damage. In rural Cameron Parish, storm surge flooding inundated LA 82, a key coastal roadway, and utility company Entergy reported that 198 power poles and 81 transformers were damaged in the storm, according to a public damage summary.
What Recovery Looks Like a Week Out
Power outages that once topped tens of thousands across East Texas counties have been steadily whittled down, but as of early September, thousands of households were still without electricity in the hardest-hit pockets. Financial damage estimates for the storm have not been finalized. Wind speed made headlines when Edouard was out over open water. It was the rain that stuck around long enough to do the real damage to the homes underneath it.
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