Beryl again reaches hurricane strength and hits South Texas

MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Beryl strengthened late Sunday night and re-strengthened into a hurricane en route to South Texas, where its outer bands lashed the coast with rain and increasing winds as residents braced for the powerful storm that has already cut a deadly swath through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.

People along the Texas coast boarded up their windows and left beach towns under evacuation orders. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the hurricane reached winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) at its peak. It was moving northwest at 10 mph (16 km/h).

The storm was forecast to make landfall early Monday in the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles south of Houston, but officials warned that the direction could still change.

As the storm approached the coast, Texas officials warned Sunday that power outages and flooding could occur, while expressing concern that not enough residents and beachgoers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings and left the country.

“One of the things that concerns us a little bit is we’ve looked at all the roads leading away from the coast and the maps are still green,” said Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling abroad. “So we’re not seeing a lot of people leaving.”

Tropical storm-force winds extended 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the center, and 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 moves north and then northeast throughout Monday.

Along the Texas coast, many residents and business owners took the usual storm precautions but also expressed uncertainty about the intensity of the storm.

In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May was attaching plywood to the windows of his utility company and said he was not worried about the potential storm surge, recalling that his company had been spared flooding during a previous hurricane that brought a 20-foot storm surge.

“When you’re in the city, you know that if you’re in the lower areas, you obviously have to get out,” he said.

At the nearby marina, Percy Roberts was showing his neighbor Ken Waller how to properly secure his boat as strong winds blew in from the bay on Sunday evening.

“This will actually be the first hurricane I’ve ever experienced,” Waller said, noting that he was a little nervous but felt confident following Roberts’ lead. “I guess you have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”

Beryl was the first storm to become a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. It claimed at least 11 lives as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with its devastating winds and storm surge, which was amplified by the record-breaking Atlantic heat.

Three times in its week-long lifetime, Beryl has reached wind speeds of 35 mph (56 km/h) within 24 hours or less, which meets the weather service’s official definition of rapid intensification.

Experts say Beryl’s explosive development into an early storm of unprecedented proportions shows how hot the Atlantic and Caribbean are getting and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season.

Authorities in Texas warned people along the entire coast of possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to Sargent south of Houston.

Beryl looms as another potential heavy rain event in Houston, where storms in recent months have knocked out power and flooded neighborhoods in the nation’s fourth-largest city. A flash flood warning was issued for a wide swath of the Texas coast, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some areas.

Possible storm surges of between 4 and 7 feet (1.22 and 2.13 meters) above ground were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey made landfall in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, far stronger than the expected intensity of Beryl by the time it reached landfall.

For those trying to catch a flight out of the region, it was all but impossible given Beryl’s proximity. Hundreds of flights from Houston’s two largest commercial airports were delayed and dozens more were canceled by Sunday afternoon, according to data from FlightAware.

In Corpus Christi, authorities urged visitors to cancel their trips and return home as early as possible. Residents were advised to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to protect them from possible flooding.

The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had sent emergency responders, search and rescue teams, bottled water and other supplies to the coast.

Several coastal counties called for voluntary evacuations of low-lying areas at risk of flooding. Local authorities also banned camping on the beach and asked tourists traveling over the Fourth of July weekend to remove their RVs from coastal parks.

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

Before reaching Mexico, Beryl caused devastation in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three people were killed in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela, and two in Jamaica.

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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julie Walker in New York contributed.