Climate
Hurricane Beryl weakens to tropical storm leaving four dead, two million Texans without electricity
The hurricane weakened to a tropical storm as it passed through the Lonestar State, but the threat of storm surge remains from Port O'Connor to Sabine Pass
July 8, 2024 9:13am
Updated: July 9, 2024 3:18am
Hurricane Beryl weakened to a tropical storm this Monday as it passed through Texas, where it claimed the lives of four people and left two million customers without electricity, according to the National Hurricane Center.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed González, a 53-year-old father died after a tree fell on the roof of his home, located in the 20900 block of Heather Grove Court.
The second tragedy occurred in the northwest part of the county, later in the morning, when a 74-year-old woman was killed, as in the previous case, by a tree falling on her home, located in the 17400 block of Rustic Canyon Trail.
A third person died in a house fire in southeast Houston around 5:30 a.m., the Houston Fire Department reported.
One worked as a Houston Police Dept. civilian employee and the other was killed in a fire reportedly started from a lightning strike, according to USA Today.
The system made landfall early this Monday on the Texas coast after regaining strength and once again becoming a Category 1 hurricane, according to the United States National Weather Service (NWS).
The storm made landfall as a minor hurricane around 4:00 a.m. local time, about 137 kilometers southwest of Houston, with maximum sustained winds of 128.7 km/h, and was moving north at 19.3 km/h.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents to be prepared for possible flash flooding in parts of the central region, north and east Texas, as well as Arkansas, as The storm is expected to gradually turn north and then northeast later Monday.
The system regained hurricane status Sunday night. The phenomenon had weakened after leaving a trail of destruction as it passed through Mexico and the Caribbean.
As ADN previously reported, experts have said that Beryl's sudden growth into a powerful storm early in the season makes it an unprecedented phenomenon.
In just 48 hours, Beryl went from a tropical depression to a major hurricane, setting the record for the earliest Category 4 with winds of at least 200 km/h.
Meteorologists predicted months ago that this season would be an active year, and now they are comparing it to the record-breaking activity of 1933 and the deadly 2005 season, the year of Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis.
