Hurricane Beryl: Mayor Whitmire urges people to stay home

HOUSTON — As Beryl left the Houston area Monday, Mayor John Whitmire and other city leaders surveyed the damage and pleaded with people to stay where they were.

The storm, which made landfall near Matagorda as a Category 1 hurricane and passed through the city, left more than 2 million CenterPoint customers in the dark, flooded roads and killed at least two people.

As the city recovers from Beryl’s devastating blow, Whitmire urges people to do their part.

“We are in an emergency situation,” he said at a news conference Monday. “We are in rescue mode. I am begging you to stay home. Please do not put our first responders in danger.”

Whitmire said the city was going to open centers and the Red Cross had reached out to them. They had identified locations, but many multi-service centers, even the George R. Brown Convention Center, were without power.

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said there was only one death in the city related to the fire, which was in the southeast part of the city. He urged people to call 911 only in case of emergency.

Randy Macchi, Houston’s public works operations director, echoed the message to stay home.

“When it comes to our streets, it’s important to remember that our primary drainage mechanism in this city is our streets,” Macchi said. “For better or worse, that’s the reality of the situation.”

Macchi said that during events like this, the streets will empty more slowly than usual.

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