Power partially restored in Houston after Hurricane Beryl as storm spawns tornadoes as it moves east – News-Herald

By MARK VANCLEAVE and JUAN A. LOZANO

HOUSTON — Power has begun to return to some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl struck the Houston area, as the weakened storm moved eastward, spawning suspected tornadoes and causing more damage.

Beryl was accused of killing several people in Texas on Monday and at least one person in Louisiana, authorities said.

After peaking Monday with more than 2.7 million customers without power around Houston, the numbers improved to more than 2.3 million homes and businesses without power Tuesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Lack of air conditioning in homes, downed power lines and non-functioning traffic lights have led officials to ask residents to stay home if possible.

“Houstonians need to know that we are working around the clock to keep them safe,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at a news briefing Monday, urging residents to also be aware of the dangers of high water, stay hydrated and check on their neighbors.

Later Monday, Beryl weakened to a tropical depression, and by Tuesday morning the weather service said it was about 95 miles north of Shreveport, Louisiana, moving northeast with maximum sustained winds near 30 mph. Its strength is not expected to change much in the coming days.

Although weakened, Beryl threatens to bring more severe weather to several other states in the coming days. The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding from the lower and middle Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes Tuesday through Wednesday, the weather service said.

A flood warning was issued for parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and tornadoes were possible through the early morning hours in parts of the Mid-South. A few tornadoes were possible from noon to early evening in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, according to the weather service.

The storm still wreaked havoc, and the weather service confirmed on social media Monday night that tornadoes had been spotted in northeast Louisiana. Bossier City Sheriff Julian Whittington said in a Facebook post that a woman was killed in the Benton area when a tree fell on her home.

Dozens of tornado warnings were issued across Louisiana and Arkansas Monday evening.

Local and state officials in Texas warned it could take several days to fully restore power after Beryl slammed ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking down 10 transmission lines and downing trees that brought down power lines.

Beryl on Tuesday was far less powerful than the Category 5 monster that had earlier wreaked havoc on parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. But its winds and rain still toppled hundreds of trees that had already collapsed into waterlogged ground and stranded dozens of cars on flooded roads.

“We haven’t been through any difficult conditions yet,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country.

Patrick said CenterPoint Energy is sending thousands of additional workers to restore power, with top priorities being nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

At least two people were killed when trees fell on homes in Texas, and a third person, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department, was killed when he became trapped in floodwaters under a highway bridge, Whitmire said.

Losing power was an all-too-familiar experience for Houston: Powerful storms had just ravaged the region in May, killing eight people, leaving nearly a million without power and flooding many streets.

Residents without electricity after Beryl did their best.

“We haven’t really slept,” Eva Costancio said as she looked at a large tree that had fallen on power lines in her neighborhood in Rosenberg, a Houston suburb. She said she had already been without power for several hours and was worried the food in her refrigerator would spoil.

“We’re struggling to get food and losing that food would be hard,” she said.

Power crews were working to restore service as quickly as possible, an urgent priority for homes also without air conditioning in the middle of summer. Temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) were expected Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory saying the region’s heat index could reach 105 degrees.

The state has opened cooling centers as well as food and water distribution centers, said Nim Kidd, the state’s emergency operations chief.

Torrential rains from Beryl pounded Houston and other coastal areas Monday, re-closing streets in neighborhoods that had been washed away by previous storms. Houston authorities reported at least 25 water rescues Monday afternoon, mostly for people whose vehicles were stuck in floodwaters.

Many streets and neighborhoods in Houston were littered with fallen branches and other debris. The hum of chainsaws filled the air Monday afternoon as residents cut downed trees and branches that blocked streets and sidewalks.

Patrick warned that flooding could last for several days as rain continues to fall on already saturated ground.

President Joe Biden has received regular updates on the storm and called the mayor of Houston on Monday, the White House said. He told the mayor his administration will ensure Texans have the resources they need to weather the storm and recover.

Several companies with refineries or industrial facilities in the region reported that the power outages required the flaring of gases at the facilities.

Beryl, the first Category 5 hurricane to develop in the Atlantic, killed at least 11 people as it moved through the Caribbean before heading toward Texas. In Jamaica, officials said Monday that islanders will face food shortages after Beryl destroyed more than $6.4 million worth of crops and supporting infrastructure.

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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Corey Williams in Detroit; Julie Walker in New York; Melina Walling in Chicago; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.