Storm Looms Over Texas as Hurricane Beryl Nears Coast

Tropical storm Beryl strengthened into a hurricane once again as it approached southern Texas, where its outer bands battered the coast with heavy rain and intensifying winds. By late Sunday, the storm’s sustained winds had reached 75mph, with forecasters warning that the path could still change. The National Hurricane Center said the hurricane was moving north-west at 10mph, churning towards the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, about 100 miles south of Houston.

Residents in the affected areas were taking no chances, boarding up windows, evacuating from beach towns, and preparing for the storm’s impact. Beryl had already wreaked havoc in parts of Mexico and the Caribbean before making its way towards Texas. Temperatures near the coast were forecast to soar above 90F, with heat indices reaching as high as 108F on Sunday.

Parts of eastern Texas were on flood watch ahead of the storm, which had maximum wind speeds of 60mph as of Sunday morning. The National Hurricane Center cautioned that preparations should be rushed to completion in Texas, with officials expressing concern that not enough residents and beach vacationers were heeding warnings to leave.

As the storm neared the coast, the Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor while Governor Greg Abbott is abroad, warned that the storm posed a “serious threat to Texans”. Over 120 counties were already under disaster declaration, with the US National Hurricane Center issuing frequent updates as the storm approached.

The storm is expected to cause power outages and flooding, with the National Hurricane Center advising residents in the affected areas to be prepared to potentially leave their homes. “Get ready to potentially leave your home, especially in those barrier islands,” said National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan in a statement to the Houston Chronicle.

As the storm drew closer, the port of Corpus Christi was closed due to gale force winds, and other ports along the Texas coast serving the oil industry began to close or restrict vessel traffic. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has its launch site on South Padre Island, prepared for the storm’s arrival by lowering cranes and rolling back a ship to its production site.

Beryl’s journey began in the Caribbean, where it smashed into the south-east region as a category 4 hurricane, killing 10 and displacing hundreds before making landfall in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula as a category 2 hurricane. It then moved north-west across warm sea waters as a tropical storm before strengthening into a hurricane once again.

The storm is expected to disperse as a post-tropical cyclone after passing through Texas, bringing rain and flooding to the US Midwest and Upper Midwest. The National Hurricane Center said that the fastest rate of intensification was likely to occur right before landfall, with some additional intensification possible up until the storm hits the coast.

Texas has a history of being hit by hurricanes, with 109 tropical systems making landfall in the state since 1850. The most recent was Hurricane Nicholas, a category 1 hurricane that caused two deaths and $1bn in damage.