HOUSTON (AP) — Tropical Storm Nicholas hit the Texas coast early Tuesday as a hurricane and dumped more than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain along the same area swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, drenching storm-battered Louisiana, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people and bringing the potential for life-threatening flash floods across the Deep South.

Nicholas made landfall on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm. It was about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south-southwest of Houston, Texas, with maximum winds of 60 mph (95 kph)...