Beryl, which barreled ashore early Monday in south Texas at Category 1 strength, had weakened into a tropical storm and then into a tropical depression by Monday night but is still putting eastern Texas, western Louisiana and Arkansas at risk of flooding and tornadoes.
Tornadoes remain possible through Monday night in parts of east Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, the National Hurricane Center said, and the risk will spread to southeast Missouri, northern Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and Ohio on Tuesday.
As of 8 p.m. Monday, Beryl, the first hurricane of 2024 to strike the U.S., was 30 miles east-southeast of Tyler, Texas, and 225 miles southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, with its sustained winds dropping to 35 mph, losing its earlier tropical storm status. Beryl was moving north-northeast at 16 mph.
On the forecast track, the center of Beryl was expected to move through the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley Tuesday and Wednesday. Beryl will likely weaken further into a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, the hurricane center said.
All watches and warnings, including storm surge warnings, had been discontinued by Monday night.
When the storm made landfall shortly before 5 a.m. ET on Monday near Matagorda, Texas, about 80 miles from downtown Houston, it brought dangerous storm surge and high winds with gusts reaching 91 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
High waters quickly began to close streets across Houston and flood warnings were in effect across a wide stretch of the Texas coast, leaving more than 2 million CenterPoint Energy customers without power, The Associated Press reported.
At least two people were killed when trees fell on homes, and the National Hurricane Center said damaging winds and flash flooding would continue as Beryl pushes inland. A third person, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department, was killed when he was trapped in flood waters under a highway overpass, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said. There were no immediate reports of widespread structural damage, however.
More than 1,000 flights were canceled at Houston’s two airports Monday, according to tracking data from FlightAware.
Much of the Texas coast was under a flash flood watch earlier Monday, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some areas.
Forecasters expected an additional 4 to 8 inches of rainfall across portions of eastern Texas through Monday night, with some areas drawing 12 inches.
Southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri are expected to see between 3 and 5 inches of rain through Tuesday, possibly higher in some areas, and the hurricane center said “considerable flash and urban flooding is possible.”
Houston officials reported at least 25 water rescues by Monday afternoon, mostly for people with vehicles stuck in floodwaters.
The fourth-largest city in America is being absolutely rocked by a hurricane: pic.twitter.com/WdtAj35CpU
— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) July 8, 2024
Meteorologists in Louisiana were watching for lingering rainbands, which could drop copious amounts of rain wherever they materialize, as well as “quick, spin-up tornadoes,” said Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Beryl was the earliest storm to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic last week, and the record-breaking storm left at least 11 people dead on islands in the eastern Caribbean.
Hurricane Beryl weakened to a tropical storm hours after it made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico early Friday morning and emerged in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico early Saturday. Over the weekend, Beryl crossed the open water and headed northwest toward Texas’ Gulf coast.
Beryl was forecast to bring more strong rain and winds into additional states over the coming days. One of those, Missouri was already dealing with a wet summer. Heavy rains unrelated to the storm prompted several water rescues around the city of Columbia, where rivers and creeks were already high ahead of Beryl’s expected arrival on Tuesday.
Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
