As Tropical Storm Nicholas barrels toward the Gulf Coast, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner gave a brief update on the city’s preparations for what’s expected to be a heavy rain event that could cause significant flash flooding in parts of the greater Houston area.

Meanwhile, several local school districts responded quickly to the rapidly changing forecasts and announced early dismissals and class cancellations ahead of the impending nasty weather, and Harris County COVID-19 test and vaccination centers have already announced storm-induced closures.

Houston ISD announced Monday morning that while all of its campuses will remain open for the day, all district after-school and sporting events will be cancelled Monday afternoon as of 5 p.m. due to Nicholas. All HISD classes — both in-person and virtual — have also been cancelled on Tuesday, and all district offices and campuses will be shut down as Nicholas arrives in the Houston region.

Earlier Monday morning, Fort Bend ISD announced all of its schools will dismiss early Monday. Early dismissal times are 11:35 a.m. for high school campuses, 1:25 p.m. for middle schools and 12:10 p.m. for elementary schools.

FBISD also announced all of its own after-school activities will also be cancelled Monday, as will the school board meeting scheduled for Monday night. All FBISD classes will be cancelled Tuesday as well.

Addressing the media at the city of Houston’s emergency response center, Turner said the city expects Nicholas to dump more water than high-speed winds on the Houston area.

“Our primary concern is tonight and tomorrow, tomorrow morning, and probably through the day tomorrow, “ Turner said Monday. “So I’m going to certainly encourage people to kind of finish up what they need to do before sundown.

"I’m going to certainly encourage people to kind of finish up what they need to do before sundown.” — Mayor Sylvester Turner

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“If you don’t have to be on the road later on this evening, please don’t. Finish up what you’ve got to do,” he continued.

Turner said that for now, all city employees are expected to report to work Monday, but that he’d decide later this afternoon whether or not to send employees home early or to only call in essential employees to work on Tuesday.

The city Public Works department has already deployed 43 barriers at roadways expected to flood as of Monday morning, according to Turner. He also said no major delays or flight cancellations have been announced at either George Bush International or Hobby Airport. “Now, that’s subject to change," he said. "The airport is more capable of dealing with rain events. What makes things a little bit more problematic is when there’s wind.” METRO bus and train schedules still remain the same for now, but Turner said those schedules are also subject to change as weather conditions worsen later Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Turner said CenterPoint Energy representatives have informed him that “about 2,000 customers” were without power Monday morning. “They have ramped up and are ready to go if additional power outages should occur between now going until tonight [and] tomorrow, so I feel very good about the preparation that has been made on that front to work to restore people’s power as quickly as possible,” Turner said.

Harris County Public Health announced late Sunday night that all of the county’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites will be closed both Monday and Tuesday. “Residents are encouraged to be prepared with enough food, water, and emergency supplies to last a few days in case the weather is severe,” the county health department’s announcement read. “People also need to prepare their homes by bringing in objects from their yard or balcony that wind or flooding could pick up.”

Turner mentioned that a recent National Weather Service report said greater Houston could see isolated spots of tornado-level winds, but that forecasts still indicated Monday morning that Nicholas will mostly be a heavy rain storm. Nicholas is also expected to move more quickly through the Houston area than previously expected, according to a Monday morning update from Space City Weather’s Eric Berger.

When asked if there were specific parts of the city Turner was most concerned about flooding, he first mentioned “the southern end of Houston, closer to the coastline.”

“But based on the report we’ve seen from the National Weather Service, the rain could come all over the city of Houston,” he warned. “So whether you’re on the south side, whether you’re to the north of I-10, all of those areas we’re concerned with. If you get two to three to four inches of rain, for example, in an area, you’re going to face flooding. And those two to three to four inches of rain could come in the south, southwest, you just don’t know.”

“Mother Nature will do what Mother Nature does,” Turner said.

Since last night, Tropical Storm Nicholas has organized just a bit around a center of circulation just a bit closer to the coastline than originally thought. But, despite its attempts to strengthen, the storm is clearly being inhibited by dry air and wind shear, a fight that will likely continue right up until landfall, which is now expected late tonight somewhere between Corpus Christi and Matagorda Bay.

Another change, and one that is beneficial to all of us in the Houston area, is that Nicholas appears to be picking up speed. The storm now should clear our area by later in the day on Wednesday meaning the biggest rainfall threats for us come between Monday afternoon and early Wednesday morning.

About those threats, because Nicholas is expected to move a little more quickly than first anticipated, that will lessen the chances of catastrophic rains in the region. We are still expected to get widespread rainfall totals between five and 10 inches with areas closer to the coast a bit higher, and a couple of bullseye spots potentially with 20-plus. But, the prolonged rainfall event forecast in some models has backed off just a bit, thankfully.

What you should expect is very rainy conditions with widespread downpours with some storms generating two to four inches of rain per hour. That kind of rainfall can swamp streets with flash flooding, particularly in flood-prone areas. If you can, it will be best to avoid driving Monday night through Tuesday evening. And if you do have to drive, be particularly cautious of high water spots. These are exactly the type of conditions that can lead to unexpected and sudden flash flooding on area roadways.

By Wednesday, the bulk of the weather should be well to our northeast and we can begin to dry out. We'll keep you posted as the day continues.