Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall in Texas; More Than 1,300 Flights Cancelled

Hurricane Beryl roared his way to the Texas coast, causing damage to infrastructure, power outages and widespread flooding, according to reports.

The storm that caused death and widespread damage in the Caribbean and Yucatan in Mexico last week, at varying levels of severity, has hit Houston early Monday (July 8) as a Category 1 hurricane.

The center of the storm made landfall around 4 a.m. local time, about 84 miles (135 kilometers) south-southwest of Houston, with sustained winds of 80 mph (128 km/h) and moving north at a speed of just over 12 mph (19 km/h).

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Nearly 1 million homes and businesses statewide were without power within hours of Beryl’s landfall, according to CenterPoint Energy in Houston.

Beryl, which had weakened over the weekend, strengthened and became a hurricane again Sunday evening, the Associated Press reported.

A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the U.S. Weather Service said.

More than 1,300 flights cancelled

Travelers planning to fly from affected areas in Texas faced disruptions as Beryl moved closer.

A total of 1,331 flights had been cancelled and 505 flights had been delayed as of 6 a.m. Monday, according to the flight tracking website. FlightAware.

Most of the affected flights are those arriving or departing from Texas airports, including Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, also in Houston.

LEARN MORE: Beryl – Jamaica reopens airports; ‘no large-scale impact’ on tourism, says Bartlett

United recorded the highest number of cancelled flights on Monday morning, with 405 cancellations, followed by South West with 268, FlightAware data shows.

Beryl will weaken and head towards the Mississippi Valley

Beryl is expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday, then to a tropical depression on Tuesday (July 9),

The center of the storm is expected to move toward eastern Texas and then south. Mississippi Valley in the Ohio Valley Tuesday and Wednesday, the U.S. Weather Service said.

Beryl, the first storm to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean last week.

The storm hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday as a Category 2 storm.

Before that, it had caused flooding and damage. Jamaica, THE Cayman Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines And Grenade.

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