Hurricane Beryl continues to strengthen on approach to Texas

July 8 (UPI) -- After regaining hurricane status over night, Beryl continued to strengthen early Monday as it neared making landfall along Texas' coast.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 1 a.m. CDT Monday update , up 5 mph from two hours earlier when the forecasters announced Beryl had regained hurricane strengthen.

Beryl was located about 30 miles south-southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and about 95 miles east-northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, the NHC said.

It was moving north-northwest at about 10 mph.

"Additional strengthening is expected before the center reaches the Texas coast," the NHC said.

Hurricane warnings were called for San Luis Pass to Port Bolivar and the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay to Port Bolivar.

Tropical storm warnings have also been called for the Texas coast south of Mesquite Bay to Port Mansfield and north of Port Bolivar to Sabine Pass.

Beryl is forecast to make landfall on the middle Texas coast in the next few hours, bringing with it a "dangerous storm surge, flash flooding and strong winds," the NHC said.

After making landfall, "significant weakening is expected" as it turns northeastward and moves farther inland over eastern Texas and Arkansas late Monday and Tuesday.

Once it makes landfall, it will be the first U.S. landfall of the 2024 hurricane season, which began on June 1. It was also the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic on record.

Rainfall of 5 to 10 inches with a localized amount of 15 inches is expected across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast and eastern Texas beginning late Sunday through the middle of next week.

Since 1850, more than 50 hurricanes have made landfall in Texas .

The last one was when Nicholas, a Category 1 hurricane, came ashore in Matagorda County in 2021.

Beryl made landfall about 5 north of Tulum in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula at 6:05 a.m. Friday as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. Around 1,170 temporary shelters were installed in the area, according to a news release Thursday from the state's government.

At least nine people have died from Beryl: two in Jamaica, three in Venezuela, three in Grenada and one person in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.