Hurricane Beryl crossed the Texas coast near Matagorda early Monday morning dragging a dangerous storm surge and strong winds in its turbulent wake.
Forecasters say the category two event will bring destructive winds and up to 15-inches of rain.
AP reports the National Weather Service (NWS) cautioned the storm’s center hit land as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. Central Standard Time about 85 miles southwest of Houston with top sustained winds of 80 mph while moving north at 12 mph.
A group of men board up a restaurant in Port Lavaca, Texas, on July 7, 2024, as they prepare for the arrival of tropical storm Beryl. Coastal Texas was under hurricane and storm surge warnings on Sunday, as the southern U.S. state braced for the approach of Beryl, which was threatening to make landfall as a hurricane. (MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)
The AP report sets out warnings and cautions have been issued after Beryl strengthened and become a hurricane again late Sunday.
The storm had weakened after leaving a path of deadly destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. In southern Texas, the storm’s outer bands lashed the coast with rain and intensifying winds Sunday as residents prepared for the storm’s arrival.
A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the NWS said.
Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm Monday and a tropical depression Tuesday, the weather service said, forecasting a turn to the northeast and increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday.
As the storm neared the coast, Texas officials warned Sunday it could cause power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough residents and beach vacationers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings to leave.
“One of the things that kind of trigger our concern a little bit, we’ve looked at all of the roads leaving the coast and the maps are still green,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is travelling overseas. “So we don’t see many people leaving.”
Beryl caused at least 10 deaths in the Caribbean before being downgraded to a tropical storm as it hit Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
It was later upgraded again, and more than a million Texans were placed under a hurricane warning as it approached.
The Associated Press contributed to this report