Morning Roundup: Where's Humberto? edition

Good morning, Houston. As you might have noticed, we passed the night sans Humberto — but our friends in the Beaumont area weren't so lucky. The sudden hurricane made landfall early this morning and battered Beaumont with winds up to 62 mph and Orange with gusts of up to 85 mph, the Chron's Eric Berger reports. From across Southeast Texas came reports of knee-deep water, downed power lines and damaged buildings, including an apartment complex in Port Arthur that lost its roof; at least 75,000 people in the area could be without power for several days, according to The Beaumont Enterprise. So what now? As Berger notes, the official forecast has Humberto continuing inland, but some computer models indicate that it could end up over New Orleans, picking up moisture and dumping it on the city. Meanwhile, some schools in Houston are closed (or partially closed) today — check the list out here.

>> Dirty politics, or just dirty food?: New state laws setting stricter rules for mobile food vendors in Houston and Harris County have drawn a reaction that goes way beyond cuisine: More than 60 Hispanic taco truck operators are suing the city of Houston, Harris County and the state, claiming racial bias. "Certain legislators don't like these Hispanic-run businesses in their neighborhoods," David Mestemaker, the attorney representing the truck owners, told the AP. "They think they're too low-class." The laws — which call for daily inspections and the proper disposal of waste water and grease, among other things — are motivated by health concerns, not race, said Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston), a co-author of the legislation. "It all goes back to consumer protection and public health and safety, and nothing else," he said.

>> Crews fish wheelchair-bound man from bayou: William Moore, 71, was riding his motorized wheelchair on a sidewalk alongside Brays Bayou yesterday when he hit a bump and skidded right into the water. Luckily for Moore, Harris County constables happened to be passing by just then, and they were able to rescue him — but not without some help. Precinct 1 Constable Chris Jaris and his partner tried to save Moore, but couldn't; they radioed for help, and Moore floated about a mile downstream toward Highway 288 before a UTMB UT-Houston police officer was able to catch him. Moore, who is paralyzed, suffered a broken leg and is in critical condition at Ben Taub. "It took all of us — county, city, UTMB — everybody did it together and pulled it in," Jaris told KTRK.

>> Today's weather: Looks like a reasonably dry day today: We'll have a 20 percent chance of rain after 1 p.m., but most of the clouds should move out by tonight. Expect a high around 88, with an overnight low near 71. So what happened to that elusive cool front that's shown up in the forecast lately? Looks like we'll still get it, but not until next weekend — though after that, the long-range forecast calls for highs in the low 80s and lows around 65.

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