Hurricane Beryl weakens to tropical storm, kills 3 in Texas and knocks out power
- National Hurricane Centre said damaging winds and flash flooding will continue as Beryl continues pushing inland
Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, cancelling more than 1,000 flights and knocking out power to more than 3 million homes and businesses.
Beryl, the season’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, weakened from a hurricane after pounding the coastal Texas town of Matagorda with dangerous storm surges and heavy rain before moving across Houston, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said. The agency said conditions could spawn tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.
The storm, which was expected to rapidly weaken as it moved inland, swept a destructive path through Jamaica, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines last week. It has killed at least 12 people in the Caribbean and Texas.
In Texas, a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in two incidents by trees that fell on their homes in the Houston area on Monday. A third person drowned, according to local officials.
Oil refining activity slowed and some production sites were evacuated in the state that is the nation’s biggest producer of US oil and natural gas. “Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall is ongoing across portions of Texas. Damaging winds ongoing along the coast, with strong winds moving inland,” the NHC said even as Beryl began to lose strength.
Following warnings that it could be a deadly storm for communities in its path, residents had rushed to board up windows and stock up on fuel and other essential supplies.
