HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2007

Humberto Weakens After Blasting Texas

Category 1 Hurricane Now A Tropical Storm; Thousands Without Power In Southeast Texas

  • Play CBS Video Video Humberto Attacks At Night

    Within a half-hour, tropical storm Humberto increased to a Category 1 hurricane and walloped High Island, Texas, in the middle of the night. Mark Strassmann reports

  • Video Tracking Humberto

    Michelle Mainelli of National Weather Service warns Hannah Storm that Hurricane Humberto, with its torrential rains, may increase the risk of severe flooding.

  • Video Humberto Hits Texas, Louisiana

    Humberto, a Category 1 hurricane, battered the Texas coastline before moving onward to Louisiana. WAFB meteorologist Steve Caparotta reports.

    • Barbara Schley hugs her neighbor Jack Payton whose High Island home was destroyed by Hurricane Humberto Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in High Island, Texas. Jack and his wife, Connie, have lived at the home for 44 years. They were home as the hurricane knocked the building seven feet off the foundation and took off the roof.

      Barbara Schley hugs her neighbor Jack Payton whose High Island home was destroyed by Hurricane Humberto Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in High Island, Texas. Jack and his wife, Connie, have lived at the home for 44 years. They were home as the hurricane knocked the building seven feet off the foundation and took off the roof.  (AP Photo/Melissa Phillip)

    • Traffic moves slowly through floodwaters spawned by Hurricane Humberto early Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in Beaumont, Texas.

      Traffic moves slowly through floodwaters spawned by Hurricane Humberto early Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in Beaumont, Texas.  (AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise)

    • Vela Rogers, 73, surveys the damage around her home caused by Hurricane Humberto Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 in Stowell, Texas.

      Vela Rogers, 73, surveys the damage around her home caused by Hurricane Humberto Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 in Stowell, Texas.  (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

    • Thomas Moses, 61, picks up his bedroom window that was blown out by high winds caused by Hurricane Humberto, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 in Stowell, Texas.

      Thomas Moses, 61, picks up his bedroom window that was blown out by high winds caused by Hurricane Humberto, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007 in Stowell, Texas.  (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

    • The area expected to be hit the hardest is in the far southeast corner of Texas from Galveston Island eastward. It includes the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas.

      The area expected to be hit the hardest is in the far southeast corner of Texas from Galveston Island eastward. It includes the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas.  (CBS/EARLY SHOW)

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  • Photo Essay Surprise! It's Humberto

    Storm quickly gains hurricane strength, lashes south Texas and Louisiana.

  • Interactive Storm Tracker

    Follow all the storms of the 2009 season with satellite images, warnings and wind speed charts.

  • Interactive Storm Season

    Track the latest storms, see how they form, get preparation tips and more.

(CBS/AP) 
At 11 a.m. EDT, the Humberto's center was about 75 miles west-northwest of Lafayette. It was moving toward the north-northeast near 12 mph. Maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph.

Rainfall of up to eight inches was expected across much of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Texas has had one of the wettest summers on record, with Houston soaked under the most rain it has had in a summer since 1942.

Gov. Rick Perry activated 50 military vehicles with 200 soldiers, plus a half-dozen helicopters and two swift-water rescue teams. Other crews from the U.S. Coast Guard were on standby.

Last month, at least six deaths were blamed on Tropical Storm Erin, which dropped nearly a foot of rain in parts of Texas. In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison soaked Houston with 20 inches (about 51 centimeters) of rain in eight hours. About two dozen people died and damage was estimated at roughly $5 billion.

In Louisiana, Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency. Calcasieu and Vermilion parishes had shelters on standby. Vermilion also was making sandbags and sand available, said Mark Smith, a spokesman for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

The warning area included Louisiana's Cameron Parish, which was devastated by Hurricane Rita - with winds far stronger than Humberto - in September 2005. More than 500 federally issued travel trailers and mobile homes remain there.

Humberto is the eighth named storm this year and formed from a depression that developed Wednesday morning.

Another tropical depression formed Wednesday far in the open Atlantic, about 930 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. It had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph and was moving west-northwest at about 16 mph.

The National Hurricane Center said the depression was disorganized but still could grow into a tropical storm in the next day.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 23 Comments
by dgal878 September 13, 2007 6:04 PM EDT
Mr Payton, I''m sorry for what you''re going through today. I hope your community pulls through for you.
Reply to this comment
by setumstrt9 September 13, 2007 5:51 PM EDT
I hate to hear it slim1h2o. We''ve had our share of drought. Good luck, maybe one of these hurricans will bring you some rain. BTW our average is around 20 inches a year, this year we are over 50 inches. Nice for a change.
Reply to this comment
by dgal878 September 13, 2007 5:46 PM EDT
Oops, that was a typo, it should have been immunity.
Reply to this comment
by dgal878 September 13, 2007 5:43 PM EDT
klingon69,
I''m with you, I was wondering the same thing about these immigration stories being blocked from comment. Looks like Americas feelings about immagration are not welcome. I''m American made and think that all illegals should go back to their countries and regain entry into the US legally. Perhaps the US could strike an agreement with the countries in question to allow some kind of favor to those that go back and pursue entry legally. I happen to have a brother-in-law who is an illegal and he, like all of the rest of them, is just biding his time because he feels strongly that the US will cave in and grant him/them ammunity because of their shear numbers. Nothing like blackmailing an entire country, but I think we deserve it for being so lax in upholding our own LAWS.
Reply to this comment
by klingon69 September 13, 2007 4:42 PM EDT
This is extremely off-topic, but what is up with CBSNEWS? They allow message posting of this and stories about the WV 6 and so forth, but have not allowed message posting on any illegal immigrant stories in quite awhile. Why?
Reply to this comment
by klingon69 September 13, 2007 4:39 PM EDT
I''''m so glad the hurricane is hitting Texas.
Posted by Precious_Thi at 09:51 AM : Sep 13, 2007
Precious, you''re back! Great! You really need to get over that unfortunate incident when the girl made you wear that saddle.
Reply to this comment
by madisongirl-2009 September 13, 2007 3:30 PM EDT
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !

HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !
HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !






LOL

Reply to this comment
by madisongirl-2009 September 13, 2007 3:30 PM EDT
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !

HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !
HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !






LOL

Reply to this comment
by madisongirl-2009 September 13, 2007 3:30 PM EDT
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !
STOP GLOBAL WHINING !

HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !
HEY, HEY, HO, HO, GLOBAL WHINING HAS GOTTA GO !






LOL

Reply to this comment
by clestes-2009 September 13, 2007 3:21 PM EDT
Texas is just lucky Heberto wasn''t a force 5 from Navrone! There have been 3 cat 5 hurricanes this year already.
Reply to this comment
by dirtyharry02 September 13, 2007 1:46 PM EDT
HEY PRECIOUS_THI,

*** YOU!!! I LIVE IN BEAUMONT, TX. IT''S JUST ANOTHER DAY HERE, BUT A FEMA CHECK WOULD BE NICE, SINCE I DIDN''T GET *** WHEN RITA HIT, OH, BUT HURRICANE RITA WASN''T KATRINA! OH WELL.
Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o September 13, 2007 1:45 PM EDT
Posted by setumstrt9 at 10:34 AM : Sep 13, 2007

Glad your not getting rain now then! Here in North Carolina, we''re about 20" below our rain fall, our grass is brown, and our trees are already shedding their leaves, due to lack of water.

Hopefully we''ll get rain out of this system!
Reply to this comment
by texas468 September 13, 2007 1:40 PM EDT
I''''m so glad the hurricane is hitting Texas.
Posted by Precious_Thi at 09:51 AM : Sep 13, 2007

Boy, I am too!!! I''d rather have more rain than none at all, it was too dry last year. Oh, and if your comment was meant to be derogatory, you failed miserably......have a nice day......
Reply to this comment
by antoniof123 September 13, 2007 1:35 PM EDT
Wow, God is really taking it out on Texas.
Reply to this comment
by setumstrt9 September 13, 2007 1:34 PM EDT
slim1h2o

No we don''t need anymore rain, we''ve had bad floods this year. But everything sure is green now.

I hate it for the people in Texas, but the media is really trying to blow this storm way out of proportion. They are hungry for a disaster.
Reply to this comment
by reporter21 September 13, 2007 1:17 PM EDT
Rep. Mario M. Scavello, Are You Kidding???

See how he spents his time and our money.....
www.poconocommunitynews.com/RepMarioMScavello.html
Reply to this comment
by tgdowd September 13, 2007 12:51 PM EDT
I''m so glad the hurricane is hitting Texas.
Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o September 13, 2007 12:47 PM EDT
Hang on to your hat setumstrt9, glad you guys are not getting more rain! You don''t need it, do you?
Reply to this comment
by setumstrt9 September 13, 2007 12:44 PM EDT
We have 80 mile an hour winds on a sunny day here in Western Oklahoma.
Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o September 13, 2007 11:47 AM EDT
Hey, Hurricane Humberto hope you are coming to the Carolinas,, we need the rain BADLY! Our rivers and lakes are drying up here, so HURRY!

And BTW, hope no one that doesn''t need any more rain, isn''t getting any, as they say too much of a good thing, isn''t necessarily a good thing
Reply to this comment
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