Texas braces as tropical storm warnings cover coast

(CNN) -- Forecasters expanded warnings along the Texas Gulf coast early Monday as Tropical Storm Edouard picked up speed.

Edoudard was on track to drop rain in southern Louisiana before reaching Texas' coast, forecasters said.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to San Luis Pass, Texas. The warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area in the next 24 hours.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami expects Edouard, which started as a depression in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday afternoon, to reach coastal Galveston, Texas, by Tuesday morning. Edouard will likely reach near-hurricane strength before landfall, the hurricane center said.

A hurricane watch -- which means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours -- was issued, reaching from west of Intracoastal City, Louisiana to Port O'Connor, Texas.

At 5 a.m. ET, the center of the tropical storm -- the fifth one this season -- was located about 185 miles (300 km) southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana and about 295 miles (475 km) east-southeast of Galveston, the hurricane center said.

The storm was moving west at about 9 mph (15 km/hr), while its maximum sustained winds neared 50 mph (85 km/hr), the hurricane center said. See a projection of Edouard's path »

Edouard is expected to dump up to 4 inches of rain along the Louisiana coast and as much as 6 inches over southeastern Texas, the center said.

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