FOUR DEAD, MILLIONS WITHOUT POWER AFTER BERYL HITS TEXAS

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Bernama-dpa) – Four people have died in Texas as tropical storm Beryl continues to move through the state, the mayor of Houston said on Monday, while millions of people remain without power, the German news agency (dpa) reported.

According to the energy supplier’s CEO, around two to three million households are affected and it will probably take several days for the power supply to be restored.

Meanwhile, a tornado destroyed about thirty houses in Jasper County on the border with the state of Louisiana.

Beryl made landfall as a hurricane near the Texas town of Matagorda, about 130 kilometers southwest of Houston, early Monday morning, but has since weakened.

The US National Hurricane Center issued warnings for further tornadoes, flash floods and strong winds for parts of Texas and Louisiana.

Meteorologists expect that life-threatening storm surges will continue to threaten the Gulf Coast. They predict that Beryl will continue to move northeast in the coming days and weaken further.

Beryl formed in the Atlantic in late June and quickly strengthened into a major hurricane before making landfall in the southeastern Caribbean on July 1.

The storm caused devastating damage on several islands, destroying homes and downing power lines. It was temporarily upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane – the highest level – and reached sustained wind speeds of over 251 kilometers per hour.

After Beryl struck Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, it reached the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane before moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward the U.S. mainland.

— BERNAMA-dpa

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