A new system has emerged in the eastern tropical Atlantic, heading westward toward the Leeward Islands as Hurricane Erin continues to spin.

The center of a tropical disturbance that flared up in the Gulf began to move across land on Friday, bringing heavy rainfall to parts of northeastern Mexico and South Texas.

As the Gulf disturbance nears Texas, tropical moisture will surge Friday and Saturday in the Houston metro area, leading to increasing storm chances.

Invest 98L, the system that emerged in the Gulf earlier this week, is strengthening as it moves northward and will likely be significant rian to Texas.

The likely path of a disturbance, increasingly expected to develop into a cyclone, has encroached on Texas in recent days, National Hurricane Center (NHC) tracker maps show. Officials have warned that the disturbance presents the threat of heavy rain, flooding, and increased rip currents along portions of Texas' coastline.

While a Gulf disturbance that moved into Texas on Friday seems to have run its course, Hurricane Erin in the western Atlantic intensifies.

The monster storm intensified to a Category 4 with 140 mph (225 kph) maximum sustained winds early Monday while it started to lash the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Hurricane Alicia made landfall in Texas on this day in 1983, causing over 100 mph wind gusts, 12-foot storm surge and $9.8 billion in damage.