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Hurricane Beryl is currently pounding southeastern Texas after making landfall near Galveston, and it has the potential to do more damage in the coming days.
Beryl rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane before smashing into the Windward Islands earlier in the week, killing at least 11 people. It briefly strengthened further into a Category 5 hurricane, but weakened to a Category 4 as it devastated Jamaica and battered the Cayman Islands as a Category 3. Next, it struck Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane and emerged into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm.
It has just made landfall in southeastern Texas with hurricane-force winds and deadly storm surge, which will deliver serious damage to the entire Houston area. A hurricane warning is in place from Corpus Christi to Galveston, and the whole region in between those two cities is low-lying and extremely susceptible to flooding, as shown by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Meanwhile, tropical storm warnings have been put into place around the area under hurricane warnings, east of Galveston and south of Corpus Christi. Storm surge warnings are also in place along the coast, as storm surge of up to 7 feet will be propelled onshore by the hurricane's strong winds and current high tides.
Power has already been knocked out to much of the area, and flooding is already happening. Local officials are also watching the nearby Lake Livingston Dam, which was damaged by flooding earlier this year. Crews rushed to complete the repairs this week as Houston was slowly brought into Beryl's forecast, and they reported that the repairs were complete as of yesterday afternoon. The dam borders Lake Livingston, which along with the Trinity River, supplies most of Houston's drinking water.
To prepare, locals boarded up windows of homes and offices, and voluntary evacuations took place across Galveston. However, mandatory evacuations were only put into place in Nueces County, near Corpus Christi, for visitors only.
Unfortunately, Beryl's impacts will not be limited to the Houston area. Forecasts show the hurricane weakening to a tropical storm as it moves north through Texas, becoming a tropical depression as it moves northeast into Arkansas, and eventually fizzling out into an unorganized storm that will move across the Ohio Valley and into New England with some heavy rain. Flood watches are in place from Galveston all the way up to Texas' northern border, reaching into northwestern Louisiana and southwestern Arkansas as well. However, the strongest impacts will be throughout eastern Texas, as Beryl is expected to bring likely flash flooding and strong winds to the whole region.
We'll make sure to keep you informed on the latest with Beryl in future daily updates.
This is a developing story, so make sure to check back in future articles to view the latest updates on damage and deaths.
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