Tropical Storm Edouard Drenches Houston

Rain from Tropical Storm Edouard drenched the Houston, Texas, area Tuesday, closing a small stretch of interstate highway as the storm moved northwest from the Gulf of Mexico.

Interstate 10 was closed at state Highway 61 near Hankamer, east of Houston, because of high water, a spokeswoman from the Texas Department of Transportation said. High winds downed trees and power lines in Beaumont and Port Arthur, where from 4 to 6 inches of rain have fallen. Both cities are east of Houston. Winds were clocked at 29 mph in Beaumont, CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said.

Edouard began weakening once its eye made landfall earlier Tuesday in the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge just west of the Louisiana-Texas border. The center of the storm at 11 a.m. ET was 40 miles west of Port Arthur and 45 miles north-northeast of Galveston, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest at 15 mph.