Hurricane Beryl claims at least seven lives in Texas

At least seven people were killed, including a Houston police officer, as Hurricane Beryl ravaged the Texas coast and parts of Louisiana. Some victims were crushed by fallen trees or caught in rising floodwaters, officials said.

As the Gulf states recover from the destruction caused by the Category 1 storm, Houston police confirmed that 54-year-old information security officer Russell Richardson was among the people killed in the storm on Monday.

Officials said the officer was “caught in the rising floodwaters and tragically lost his life.” Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had previously stated that the officer drowned in an underpass on his way to work.

In addition to Richardson, Harris County officials confirmed that a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in two separate incidents in the Houston area when trees fell on their homes.

The 74-year-old victim was later identified as grandmother Maria Laredo, who lived with her son and daughter-in-law.

The same fate befell another woman in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, when a tree fell on her home, according to the local sheriff’s office.

Officials in Montgomery County, Texas, confirmed the other three deaths, including a man who was also struck by a tree while driving a tractor and two people whose bodies were found in a tent in Magnolia.

Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the season, devastated a wide swath of the Caribbean. Although weakened from its peak strength, it still hit Texas with deadly force – bringing devastating flooding and 80 mph winds to the southeast coast.

More than 2.7 million homes in Texas were without power as the storm raged, and only about half had power restored by Wednesday.

Although the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, millions of Americans between Arkansas and Michigan are still under a flood warning as the storm moves northeast.

According to the National Weather Service, up to 12 centimeters of rain is expected in the areas affected by Beryl. Severe weather is forecast for parts of western Kentucky, southern Illinois and Indiana.

The remnants of the storm are expected to bring rain to western New York State late Wednesday and into Thursday.

With post wires