Hurricane Beryl made landfall along the Texas coast as a Category 1 storm early Monday, unleashing a barrage of severe weather that prompted water rescues, disrupted hundreds of flights and left more than 1 million people without power.
Strengthening from a tropical storm back into a hurricane , Beryl had winds of over 80 mph as it made landfall around 4:30 a.m. near Matagorda, a coastal community between Corpus Christi and Galveston, according to the National Hurricane Center .
Minutes after landfall, the weather service office in Houston issued a tornado warning for multiple counties. Twisters will be possible from far east Texas into northwest Louisiana and far southwest Arkansas, according to the weather service's Storm Prediction Center .
In Houston, the National Weather Service office said 3 to 6 inches of rain had caused flash flooding across parts of the city. Another 2 to 4 inches of rain is expected, the weather service said, urging drivers to avoid flooded roads. The weather service issued flash flood advisories across southeast Texas as some areas were receiving 2 to 4 inches of rain per hour.
Meanwhile, damaging winds of 92 mph were reported in Freeport, a city east of Matagorda. The weather service office in Houston recorded an 81 mph wind gust at high elevation in the city, prompting warnings for those in high rise apartment buildings: "please do not go out on balconies and stay away from windows."
Last week, Beryl carved a path of destruction across the Caribbean — leaving at least 11 people dead and destroying or severely damaging infrastructure on several islands. Beryl, which at one point strengthened into the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, last made landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning before it weakened into a tropical storm.
Developments :
∎ The storm prompted closures or vessel traffic restrictions at multiple ports in cities from Houston to Corpus Christi. The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Freeport, and Texas City said they closed after condition "Zulu" was set by U.S. Coast Guard captains on Sunday.
∎ Across eastern Texas, heavy rain and the ensuing flooding triggered water rescues as people became trapped in their home and vehicles.
Nearly 1,000 arriving and departing flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston were canceled early Monday amid a grounds stop as Hurricane Beryl began to lash the city with strong winds, heavy rain.
According to FightAware , a flight tracking website, at least 978 flights at the airport were canceled.
William P. Hobby Airport, a smaller airport in Houston, saw more than 225 cancellations, FlightAware said.
More than 1.3 million customers had no power in eastern Texas, according to the power company CenterPoint Energy. It’s unclear how many of those customers were in Houston.
On its website, CenterPoint Energy said the 1.3 million customers’ service was disrupted by 3,410 active outages.
According to PowerOutage.us, an outage tracker, more than 1.5 million homes and businesses across Texas were without power.
Across eastern Texas, officials in multiple counties said first responders were actively rescuing people trapped in their cars and homes amid Hurricane Beryl's deluge.
Ed Gonzalez, the sheriff of Harris County , which encompasses Houston, asked drives to "please stay off the roadways" as heavy rain drenches the major Texas city and its surrounding areas.
The police department in Rosenberg, a city just southwest of Houston, said it was conducting water rescues and warned residents about falling trees and ongoing flooding.
"Street flooding, downed trees, power outages and water rescues. All of that is happening right now in Rosenberg. Please stay off of the roads. A downed tree even fell (on) one of our high water rescue vehicles coming back from a rescue," the Rosenberg Police Department said on X .
In Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston, officials in a statement on X asked residents to "Please stay home until the storm passes." The statement from the county said "trees and debris are all over the roads, several roads flooded and most signals are out." It added that deputies were responding to "stranded/flooded motorists."
Hurricane Beryl was 40 miles southwest of Houston and 45 miles north-northeast of Matagorda, according to the National Hurricane Center's 7 a.m. advisory. The storm was hurtling north at 12 mph with sustained winds of 75 mph, down from 80 mph when the storm made landfall.
More: Hurricane Beryl tracker: Storm makes landfall in Texas, see spaghetti models, path
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from Beryl's center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles, according to NHC.
The storm is expected to weaken as it moves further inland, first into a tropical storm and then a tropical depression. Beryl is projected to continue heading north across the Mississippi Valley and then the Ohio Valley, where it's expected to dissipate on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings across much of the Texas coast on Sunday, warning that Beryl could bring damaging hurricane-force winds and 5 to 10 inches of rain. Rainfall of up to 15 inches was also expected in portions of the middle and upper Texas Gulf Coast and eastern Texas.
Water levels began to rise in coastal areas on Sunday and multiple local authorities advised residents to evacuate ahead of landfall. Officials also told residents to prepare for Beryl's impacts by stocking up on supplies, filling up gas tanks, and keeping up with updates, as the storm was forecast to cause heavy rains, flash floods, and potential tornadoes inland.
Acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick said Beryl "will be a deadly storm for people who are directly in that path," and issued a disaster declaration for 120 counties.
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Beryl is threatening Texas' largest city and the nation's fourth-biggest city, with another potential heavy rain event.
The greater Houston area — particularly the western half of the metro area — will see "significant effects in the form of strong, battering winds in addition to heavy rainfall," said meteorologist Eric Berger on the SpaceCityWeather blog.
Rainfall totals could reach 15 inches in some areas, the weather service warned, which could lead to flash flooding.
The city has already faced severe storms in recent months that downed trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes in the area and surrounding areas.
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On July 1, Beryl made landfall in Grenada's Carriacou Island as a Category 4 hurricane and tore through the southern Caribbean Islands, flattening hundreds of buildings.
Later that night, Beryl became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record . Driven by record-high ocean temperatures , Beryl's rapid strengthening stunned experts. Beryl was also the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record and is the first June major hurricane east of the Lesser Antilles on record.
Federal forecasters have predicted a hurricane season unlike any other , with as many as 25 named storms possible. It is the most storms the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever predicted in a preseason outlook.
Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz and Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY; Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Beryl pummels Texas with 'life-threatening' conditions: Live updates
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