Hurricane Humberto landed in Texas on Thursday, but slowly lost strength after causing at least one death in Louisiana. Early Friday, Humberto landed in Mississippi, where flood watches were in effect. Flood warnings were issued for portions of the Vermilion River in Louisiana. Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared three southeastern counties disaster areas. At one point, about 118,000 customers lost electricity in Texas and Louisiana. “We're pushing in generators, water and ice to affected areas, particularly those who have lost power,” said Robert Black, Perry's spokesman. “We're working with the private sector to get power restored as quickly as possible.” Forecasters didn't put out their first advisory on what became Humberto until almost midday Wednesday. It strengthened from a tropical depression with 35-mph winds to a hurricane with 85-mph winds in just 18 hours, said senior hurricane specialist James Franklin at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Only three other storms have pulled off a similar feat, growing from depression to hurricane in 18 hours _ Blanche in 1969, Harvey in 1981 and Alberto in 1982 _ but all of them were out at sea at the time, not about to crash ashore like Humberto. Humberto made landfall early Thursday less than 50 miles from where Hurricane Rita did in 2005, and areas of southwest Louisiana not fully recovered from Rita braced for flooding. Along Port Arthur's refinery row, three crude oil and liquid hydrocarbons plants were idled until power was restored. Some could be off-line for several days, even after power is restored, because they must undergo the full restart process.
