NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Edouard took aim at the coasts of Texas and Louisiana today, threatening to pick up strength from warm Gulf waters and gain near-hurricane speeds over the next 24 hours.

Emergency teams were activated as Gulf residents prepared for a second strong storm in less than a month, although Edouard is forecast to hit a different stretch of the Texas coast or Louisiana than Hurricane Dolly did last month.

Rudy Guidry of Grand Isle, on the Louisiana coast south of New Orleans, was on his father’s houseboat this morning making it a bit more secure than usual. “We’re on the water right now. Just putting on extra lines in case it comes up,” he said.

Edouard was expected to make landfall somewhere in Texas or southwest Louisiana Tuesday morning. It was moving west near 8 mph, and forecasters said the warm waters of the Gulf provided the right conditions for the storm to intensify and approach hurricane strength with winds of 75 mph or more.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to San Luis Pass at Texas. A hurricane watch was in effect from west of Intracoastal City, La. to Port O’Connor, Texas.

Edouard had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph with higher gusts at 8 a.m. EDT today. The storm’s center was located about 80 miles south-southwest of Grand Isle, La., and 285 miles east-southeast of Galveston, Texas.

Southeastern Texans prepared for Edouard’s impact while people farther down the Texas coast continued cleaning up the damage from Hurricane Dolly, which hit last month.

The owner of Avenue O Bed and Breakfast at Galveston, Connie Porter, said she planned to watch the progression of the storm today, but she wasn’t worried about it. She said a storm like the one being described might mean some debris and that people should take care of patio furniture, but she didn’t anticipate much more.

“It’s not going to be a huge issue for anybody in this area,” Ms. Porter said.

A spokeswoman for Governor Rick Perry, Krista Piferrer, said yesteday that state emergency management officials were getting updates through conference calls with the National Weather Service.

Texas began activating a number of emergency teams yesterday afternoon, including calling up 1,200 Texas military forces and six UH-60 helicopters, the State Operations Center said. The Texas Forest Service and the Texas Engineering and Extension Service activated response teams.

State emergency management officials were also conducting conference calls with officials from communities along the Texas coast, from Port O’Connor to Port Arthur, that could be affected by Edouard.

Isolated tornadoes were possible over parts of southern Louisiana and the upper Texas coast later today, according to the hurricane center. Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches was expected at coastal Louisiana and southeast Texas, with isolated amounts up to 6 inches at Texas. Tides of 2 to 4 feet above normal levels were expected in parts of the warning area.

At Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish, the emergency director, Jerry Richard, said he had called in staff members to determine if the parish’s low-lying areas could be affected by flooding.

Clifton Hebert, of the Cameron Parish emergency preparedness office, said they are monitoring Edouard on a 24-hour basis and will be sending regular releases to the public.

“Right now, we want residents in travel trailers to have a more permanent residence to go to if necessary,” Mr. Hebert said.

Many of the Gulf’s offshore oil and natural gas drilling platforms sit in the storm’s path. Shell Oil Co. had not made any operational changes yesterday afternoon, but company officials were watching the storm closely, a spokesman, Shawn Wiggins, said.

ExxonMobil Corp. had not evacuated any workers or cut production by yesterday evening, but the company was preparing its platforms for heavy wind and rain and considering whether to evacuate some workers, a spokeswoman, Margaret Ross, said in an e-mail statement.

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Associated Press Writer Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.