HOUSTON — Tropical Storm Beryl will finally weaken Thursday morning after battering the heart of the Midwest and moving into western New York, bringing dangerous weather to 11 states.
The storm reached Matagorda (about 80 miles south of Houston) on the east coast of Texas early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.
The hurricane pounded Houston on Monday, dumping nearly 12 inches of rain on parts of the city in just a few hours, causing extensive flooding on major highways and leaving dozens of people trapped in their cars and requiring rescues.
But the danger isn’t just limited to Texas: Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm by Tuesday morning as it leaves Texas and moves through the Midwest into New York and New England.
By midday, more than 2 million CenterPoint Energy customers in Texas were without power as Tropical Storm Beryl pounded the Houston area.
“The power is out. We’re all in this together. We’re all in this together,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference Monday, urging Houstonians to stay home to avoid flooding, downed power lines and dangerous debris.
Bridget Robinson, who lives on the Texas coast near Galveston, told The Post that conditions in her area are “not great,” but she is lucky to have generators to keep the power going.
Houston firefighters rescued a man whose pickup truck was almost completely submerged in water near Houston’s Astrodome, throwing him a life jacket and a lifebuoy to pull him to shore.
But Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said firefighters “cannot continue to respond to every call the same way we’ve always done it.”
Houston Police Deputy Chief Thomas Hardin said a total of eight people had been rescued from floodwaters as of midday Monday.
Two deaths were also recorded as a result of the storm, including a man in the Houston suburb of Humble who was crushed under debris when a tree fell on his home, city officials said.
Rain and winds in Houston are expected to subside by the end of Monday, but officials continue to warn residents to stay home to avoid flooding and debris.
Houston’s flooding also overwhelmed the city’s bayou system, which normally helps buffer the effects of heavy rains.
