Hurricane Beryl hits coast, skirts Hill Country

Hurricane Beryl made landfall early Monday morning near Matagorda, between Corpus Christi and Galveston, as a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 80 miles per hour or more. As it moved over southeast Texas, it brought severe weather, canceling flights, closing oil ports, flooding highways and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses. Four people have died as a result of the storm. The Storm Prediction Center documented nearly a dozen tornado reports produced by Beryl as it moved north from Texas into Louisiana and Arkansas. Local National Weather Service officials issued over 60 tornado warnings.

According to the Wimberley View’s weather reporter, Raymond Schiflett, Hurricane Beryl “missed us by about 140 miles to the east early on the morning of July 8 and we felt no effects from the storm other than a change in wind direction from the east and then the north. Rain on July 6 was associated with a cool front that passed through our area, and then returned a few hours later as a warm front and had nothing to do with the hurricane.”

Beryl is the second named storm, first hurricane and first major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Numerous sources noted that it was the earliest-forming Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. The National Hurricane Center reported that on July 2, Beryl’s winds topped out at 165 mph, the strongest July hurricane by wind speed on record in the Atlantic Basin. On July 1, Beryl made landfall and caused catastrophic damage in the Grenadines and St. Vincent and killed at least 11 people.

USA Today reported that Houston Mayor John Whitmire said on Monday that most of the city was experiencing flood waters of more than 10 inches. “We’re literally getting calls across Houston right now asking for first responders to come rescue individuals in desperate life safety conditions,” he said. After the rain passed through the area, he urged caution, “Don’t let the clear skies fool you. we still have dangerous circumstances, we still have high water.”

Also on Monday, acting Governor Dan Patrick announced that he added 81 counties to the state’s Hurricane Beryl Disaster Declaration, bringing the total number of Texas counties included in the state’s disaster declaration to 121 counties.

“As Acting Governor, I’ve been in constant communication with Texas state agencies and local leaders to coordinate preparations and response, and I will continue to do so.”

The Texas Division of Emergency Management increased the readiness level of the State Emergency Operations Center last Friday and Texas Emergency Management Council agencies are working 24-hour operations. The state has more than 2,000 responders and 850 assets rostered and deployed in support of the state’s response to Hurricane Beryl.