Beryl makes landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to more than a million people

MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Hurricane Beryl swept into the Texas coast as a Category 1 storm in the early morning hours Monday, pounding Houston with heavy rain and powerful winds and knocking out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses as rapidly rising waters flooded streets and prompted rescue efforts.

Beryl had already carved a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean before heading toward Texas, making landfall around 4 a.m. High waters quickly began closing streets in storm-weary Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, which was again under flood warnings after major storms in recent months washed away neighborhoods.

A man was killed in the Houston suburb of Humble when a tree fell on a home, trapping him under debris, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Thomas M. Gilliland.

CenterPoint Energy in Houston reported that more than a million homes and businesses were without power within hours of the storm. Flood warnings were in effect across much of the Texas coast, where a powerful storm surge pushed water toward the coast and farther inland as heavy rains continued to fall.

Police in Rosenberg, a Houston suburb, urged residents to stay off the roads after one of their flood response vehicles was hit by a falling tree while returning from a rescue operation. Video footage showed heavy flooding on streets in the island city of Galveston, and Houston was under a flash flood warning for much of the morning as heavy rains continued to drench the city.

The National Weather Service expected Beryl to weaken to a tropical storm Monday and a tropical depression Tuesday, predicting a turn northeast and an increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday. The storm’s center was expected to move over eastern Texas Monday, then across the lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Beryl is moving inland, but it’s not the end of the story yet,” said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

In the coastal town of Freeport, Texas, Patti Richardson said she was waiting out the storm in her 123-year-old home.

“We’re sitting in the middle of it all. It feels like we’re in a train station, it’s so loud and it’s been going on for about four hours. We’re just hoping it holds up,” Richardson said. “You can feel the house shaking… It’s weird.”

Beryl had weakened to a tropical storm after damaging Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, but intensified into a hurricane Sunday night. The storm’s center made landfall around 4 a.m. about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Houston with sustained winds of 80 mph (128.7 kph).

More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports, according to tracking data from FlightAware.

Beryl, the first storm to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, killed at least 11 people as it barreled through the Caribbean toward Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and a storm surge fueled by record Atlantic heat.

On three occasions in its single week of existence, Beryl saw its wind speed increase by 56 km/h (35 mph) in 24 hours or less, which meets the official definition of rapid intensification according to the weather service.

Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early storm is indicative of warm Atlantic and Caribbean waters and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the remainder of the storm season, experts said.

Texas officials warned residents along the coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and strong winds. The hurricane warning extends from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.

Potential storm surges of between 4 and 7 feet (1.22 to 2.13 meters) above ground level were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey made landfall in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, much more powerful than Beryl.

In Louisiana, heavy rain is expected throughout the day Monday and “the risk will be heavy rain and possible flash flooding,” National Weather Service meteorologist Donald Jones said during a Facebook Live briefing Monday morning.

Louisiana meteorologists are monitoring persistent rain bands, which could drop large amounts of rain wherever they materialize, as well as “fast-moving, progressive tornadoes,” said Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

“It’s just a matter of knowing exactly where it’s going to happen,” Jones said. “It’s very difficult to predict more than an hour in advance.”

Tornadoes are also possible in eastern Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, the hurricane center said.

Residents along the Texas coast boarded up their windows and left beach towns under an evacuation order.

The hurricane center warned residents to prepare for possible flash flooding in parts of central, upper and eastern Texas and Arkansas as the storm gradually turns north and then northeast later Monday.

Residents along the Texas coast boarded up their windows and evacuated coastal towns under an evacuation order. Many residents and business owners took standard storm precautions but also expressed uncertainty about the storm’s intensity.

In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May taped plywood over the windows of his power company and said he wasn’t worried about the potential storm surge. He recalled that his business had escaped flooding during a previous hurricane that brought a 20-foot storm surge.

“In the city, you know, if you’re in the low-lying areas, obviously you have to get out of there,” he said.

The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search and rescue teams, bottled water and other resources along the coast.

Several coastal counties have called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding. Local officials have also banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling over the July 4 weekend to move their recreational vehicles out of coastal parks.

Last week, Beryl hit Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Before hitting Mexico, Beryl caused damage in Jamaica, Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Three people were killed in Grenada, three in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

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Valerie Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press reporters Corey Williams in Detroit, Valerie Gonzales in McAllen, Texas, Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.