Powerful Tropical Storm Beryl is rapidly strengthening toward the South Texas coast and is expected to hit Houston with hurricane-force force, causing the city to brace for major impacts.
The storm is expected to begin bearing down on Houston late Sunday and move closer to the city early Tuesday. Heavy rainfall of 6 to 8 inches across much of the regionFlooding is possible through Monday.
Beryl is expected to bring heavy rainfall, damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge and even tornadoes to the Lone Star region, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane struck the Caribbean last week, killing 11 people and becoming the fastest Category 5 storm on record.
The storm weakened to a tropical depression on Friday as it passed over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
However, the weather system is expected to strengthen again and return to hurricane status as it moves across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico toward Matagorda Bay, just north of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Meteorologists predict the storm will be at least a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 75 to 95 mph, but could reach a Category 3 level with sustained winds of 111 to 129 mph, which would make it the strongest storm since 2017’s devastating Hurricane Harvey.
Hurricane warnings and storm surge watches have been issued for a wide swath of the coast from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to Sargent south of Houston, while tropical storm watches are in effect for the rest of the country.
“If current forecasts hold up, we expect this storm to make landfall somewhere along the Texas coast sometime on Monday,” said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane expert at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“If that happens, it will likely become a Category 1 hurricane.”
Texas officials warned residents along the coast to prepare for flooding, heavy rain and strong winds.
While Governor Greg Abbott is visiting Taiwan, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who is acting as the governor, issued a precautionary disaster declaration for 121 counties.
“Beryl is a powerful storm and high winds and potential flooding will pose a serious threat to Texans in Beryl’s path upon landfall and as it moves through the state over the next 24 hours,” Patrick said in a statement Saturday.
Several cities have urged voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas at risk of flooding.
More than 2,000 rescuers, including members of the Texas National Guard and search and rescue personnel from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, are preparing to respond to Beryl’s aftermath.
Before arriving in Mexico, Beryl The Destruction of JamaicaSaint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three deaths have been reported in Grenada, three in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela, and two in Jamaica.
According to news agency reports
