According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Beryl reaches the Texas coast near Matagorda

MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Beryl made landfall on the Texas coast near Matagorda with a dangerous storm surge and strong winds. The powerful storm moved ashore around 4 a.m. Central Standard Time on Monday, the National Weather Service said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Beryl strengthened late Sunday night and re-strengthened into a hurricane en route to South Texas, where the storm’s 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.

The National Hurricane Center issued an updated advisory at 3 a.m. Central Standard Time, warning that the storm was expected to make landfall within the next two hours.

“Parts of Texas are experiencing life-threatening storm surges, heavy rains and strong winds,” the hurricane center said.

The storm was centered about 15 miles (24.1 kilometers) southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and about 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi.

The hurricane’s strongest sustained winds were 80 mph (128.7 kph) as the storm moved northwest at 10 mph (16 kph). A hurricane warning is in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the center said.

People along the Texas coast boarded up their windows and left beach towns under evacuation orders. The storm was expected to make landfall early Monday in the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston, but authorities warned that its path 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.

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

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’ll experience,” Waller said, noting that he’s a little nervous but feels confident following Roberts’ lead. “I guess you pray for the best but expect 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 during its weeklong lifetime, Beryl reached winds 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 unprecedented early megastorm is indicative of the hot seas in the Atlantic and Caribbean and what awaits the Atlantic hurricane belt 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.

Anyone trying to catch a flight out of the region found that the window for flights was closing as Beryl approached. According to FlightAware data, hundreds of flights from Houston’s two largest commercial airports were delayed and dozens more were canceled by Sunday afternoon.

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 last week as a Category 2 hurricane, downing trees but causing no injuries or fatalities before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Before reaching Mexico, Beryl caused destruction in Jamaica, Barbados, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 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.