Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Texas, where it is expected to make landfall after regaining its hurricane strength
Olive Rowe says “everything is gone, everything is gone” as she stands in her destroyed home as Hurricane Beryl passed through the area on July 5, 2024 in Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Mexico after passing through the Caribbean islands, including Jamaica.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Beryl is rushing past warm water A Gulf of Mexico storm is on a collision course with Texas, forecast to strengthen and regain hurricane status before approaching the coast on Sunday and making landfall the following day with heavy rain, howling winds and dangerous storm surges.
A hurricane watch has been issued for a wide swath of coastline from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston, and storm surge warnings are also in effect. Other areas are under tropical storm warnings.
“We expect the storm to make landfall on the Texas coast on Monday, if the current forecast is correct,” said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “If it does, it will most likely be a Category 1 storm.”
As of Saturday night, Beryl was about 330 miles (535 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi and had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 km/h).
The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 storm In the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean earlier this week. It then smashed Mexico is a category 2 hurricanedowned trees but caused no injuries or fatalities before weakening into a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.
Texas officials have warned residents along the entire coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and winds.
Huge waves crash as Hurricane Beryl hits, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, July 5, 2024.
Jose Luis Gonzalez | Reuters
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is serving as acting governor while Governor Greg Abbott is on a trip to Taiwan, issued a precautionary disaster declaration for 121 counties.
“Beryl is a severe storm with high winds and the risk of flooding that will pose a serious threat to Texans in Beryl’s path upon landfall and as it moves across the state over the next 24 hours,” Patrick said in a statement Saturday.
Several coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding, banned camping on beaches and urged tourists traveling for the July 4 holiday to move recreational vehicles away from coastal parks.
Matagorda County spokesman Mitch Thames said officials have issued a voluntary evacuation order for coastal areas of the county, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.
“Our number one goal is the health and safety of all our visitors and of course our residents. I’m not overly concerned about our residents. The people who live there are used to it, they understand it,” Thames said.
In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut short their trips and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to protect their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against flooding.
Traffic has been nonstop for the past three days at an Ace Hardware store in the city as customers buy tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.
CFE staff inspect lamp posts damaged by Hurricane Beryl in Tulum, Mexico, July 5, 2024.
Raquel Cunha | Reuters
“They’re just worried about the wind, the rain,” she said. “They want to be prepared.”
Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Padre Island in Corpus Christi, said there was “definitely a lot of buzz about the upcoming storm” as customers stocked up on food and drinks, especially meat and beer.
In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for 6,700 residents.
Before coming to Mexico, Beryl did destruction in jamaicaSt. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three deaths were reported in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.
