Overall Green alert Tropical Cyclone for NICHOLAS-21
in United States

Event summary

Tropical Cyclone NICHOLAS-21 can have a low humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed, exposed population and vulnerability.

GDACS ID TC 1000827
Name NICHOLAS-21
From - To 12 Sep - 15 Sep
Exposed countries United States
Exposed population 480 thousand in Category 1 or higher
Maximum wind speed 120 km/h Category 1
Maximum storm surge 1.3 m (14 Sep 08:00 UTC)
Vulnerability Low (United States)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
Wind Storm surge Rainfall GDACS score
GDACS NOAA 56 km/h 1.4 m n.a. 0.5
Single TC: maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge, rainfall)
HWRF 126 km/h 1.6 m 902 mm 0.5
GFS 94 km/h 1.2 m 322 mm 0.5
ECMWF 76 km/h 1.3 m 349 mm 0.5
Maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge and rainfall) using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
USA - Tropical Cyclone NICHOLAS, update (ECHO 14 Sep 2021)Tue, 14 Sep 2021 12:11

  • Tropical Cyclone NICHOLAS has intensified to a Category 1 Hurricane and is about to make landfall south of Houston City, with maximum sustained winds up to 120 km/h. 
  • A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for areas in Brazoria County (southern of Houston) in response to NICHOLAS, while response teams have been deployed to the area of landfall.
  • After the landfall, NICHOLAS is forecast to weaken as it moves over south-eastern Texas on 14-15 September. After that, it will reach south-western Lousiana on the midday of 15 September, as a tropical depression.
  • A Hurricane warning has been issued for areas south-eastern of Houston, while a Tropical Storm warning and storm surge warnings are in effect for south-eastern Texas. Heavy rain with strong winds is forecast over south-eastern Texas and south-western Lousiana on 14-16 September.
USA - Tropical Cyclone NICHOLAS, update (ECHO 15 Sep 2021)Wed, 15 Sep 2021 12:13

  • Tropical Cyclone NICHOLAS made landfall as a Category 1 Hurricane over the southeastern coast of Texas, approximately 45 km southwest of Freeport (Brazoria County) on  the morning of 14 September (UTC) and crossed the Houston City area on the afternoon of the same day. On 15 September at 3.00 UTC, its centre was 4 km south of Beaumont City (southeastern Texas) with maximum sustained winds of 56 km/h (tropical depression).
  • According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), more than 600,000 people are without power across Texas (490,000) and Louisiana (130,000).
  • NICHOLAS is forecast to move east-northeast reaching western Louisiana on the late morning of 15 September. After that, it will weaken and dissipate on 16-17 September.
  • For the next 24 hours, moderate to heavy rain is forecast for southeast Texas, southern and central Louisiana and southern Mississippi.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Tropical Storm Odette forms off the East Coast as an active hurricane .. 9/18/2021 9:31:00 PM.

Forecasters were tracking four systems Friday afternoon as a busy hurricane season marched on apace. Remnants of Nicholas lingered over Louisiana; two disturbances brewed in the central tropical and far eastern Atlantic, and Tropical Storm
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NON IL COVID MA IL CAMBIAMENTO CLIMATICO FA CANCELLARE IL PMA DI NEW O.. 9/18/2021 12:21:00 PM.

Prima l’ uragano Ida , ai primi di settembre, con il suo passaggio devastante e il suo carico di morti e di danni provocati dal vento e dagli allagamenti, poi, qualche giorno fa, la tempesta tropicale Nicholas , che ha colpito le stesse zon
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Here's where Houston lost power during Hurricane Nicholas 9/18/2021 11:46:00 AM.

Earlier this week, a tropical storm turned into a hurricane and made landfall in the Houston area. While the storm wasn’t as severe as some that Houston has seen in past years, it still resulted in a peak of 445,013 power outages, many that
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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (40), (2), WMO (1), INFORM (2),