At 8:00 AM EDT, the National Hurricane Center declared that Tropical Storm Edouard has made landfall “on the upper Texas coast, about halfway between High Island and Sabine Pass in the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge.” (You can see the landfall location on Google Maps here.)

Edouard never did quite reach hurricane strength, coming ashore as a strong tropical storm with 65 mph maximum sustained winds. This is largely due to good luck, as the Houston Chronicle‘s Eric Berger points out:

It’s fortuitous that Edouard is now coming ashore, as the storm has finally begun to develop an outflow characteristic that would allow for further strengthening. Additionally wind shear over the storm has begun to decrease. Thus, were Edouard over open water for another day, it likely would become a substantial hurricane.

Instead, Edouard’s biggest impact will be heavy rain — and that won’t be entirely a bad thing, given the severe drought in Texas. In Alan Sullivan‘s words, “This storm is a life-giver, a Godsend.” Unfortunately, it appears the storm’s heaviest rains will stay north of the state’s driest areas. (Wide radar loop here; even wider view here. Radar-estimated rainfall totals here. Nifty rain-gauge tracker here.)

You can watch live streaming video of local Edouard coverage from ABC 13 and NBC 2.