Latest information on Hurricane Beryl: Texas on alert, authorities warn residents of possible impacts

Authorities in Texas urged coastal residents to prepare for the impending impact of Beryl. The storm was still a tropical storm on Saturday, but is expected to regain hurricane strength as it moves across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

A hurricane warning was issued for a stretch of the state’s coast from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to Sargent south of Houston. Meteorologists said the center of the storm was likely to approach the state on Sunday and make landfall the next day. Storm surge warnings were also in effect.

“If the current forecast is correct, we expect the storm to make landfall somewhere along the Texas coast sometime Monday,” said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “If that happens, it will most likely be a Category 1 hurricane.”

Beryl was the first storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, killing at least 11 people as it moved across the Caribbean islands earlier this week. It then hit Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, knocking down trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Texas authorities warned people along the coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and winds as the storm approaches.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is serving as acting governor while Governor Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, has declared a state of emergency for 121 counties as a precautionary measure.

“Beryl is a determined storm, and the increasing winds and potential flooding will pose a serious threat to Texans in Beryl’s path as it makes landfall and makes its way through the state over the next 24 hours,” Patrick said in a statement Saturday.

Some coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations of low-lying, flood-prone areas, banned camping on the beach and asked tourists traveling over the Fourth of July holiday weekend to remove their RVs from coastal parks.

Mitch Thames, a Matagorda County spokesman, said Saturday that authorities had issued a voluntary evacuation notice for coastal areas of the county about 100 miles southwest of Houston to alert the large number of visitors in the area over the holiday weekend.

“I certainly don’t want to spoil the holiday weekend for our visitors. But at the same time, our number one priority is the health and safety of all our visitors and of course our residents. I’m not so worried about our residents. The people who live down there are used to it, they understand it,” Thames said.

In Corpus Christi, authorities urged visitors to cancel their trips and return home as early as possible. Authorities urged residents to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to protect them from possible flooding.

“We are taking the storm very seriously and asking the public to take the storm very seriously as well,” Corpus Christi Fire Chief Brandon Wade said during a press conference Friday evening.

Ace Hardware in Corpus Christi has seen nonstop traffic for three days as customers buy up tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.

“They’re just worried about the wind and the rain,” she said. “They want to be prepared just in case.”

Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of the Island Market on Padre Island in Corpus Christi, said there was “definitely a lot of excitement about the approaching storm,” and customers were stocking up on food and beverages – especially meat and beer.

“I heard there were rumors that people were having some kind of hurricane parties,” he said by phone Saturday.

In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi on the Texas Gulf Coast, authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order for the 6,700 residents on Saturday.

Jhiela “Gigi” Poynter, Refugio County Judge and the county’s top elected official, said she made the decision to order a mandatory evacuation due to the increasing reliability of Beryl’s path, uncertainty about the storm’s intensity and holiday weekend traffic that is already causing roadways to congest.

“I would rather be cautious and let Tropical Storm Beryl creep into an empty Refugio County with a little rain and a little wind than the alternative of it intensifying more than predicted, which we know has happened with several storms in the past,” Poynter said in a video posted on Facebook.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Beryl was located about 330 miles (535 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi on Saturday evening, packing sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and moving northwest at 12 mph (20 kph).

Before reaching Mexico and moving into the Gulf, Beryl had already wreaked havoc in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados this week. Officials said three people were killed in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

Mexican authorities had evacuated some tourists and residents from low-lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands stayed to brave the strong winds and storm surge. Much of the area around Tulum lies just a few meters above sea level.

As the storm came ashore, the city’s power supply failed. Howling winds set off car alarms throughout the city. Wind and rain were still lashing the coastal city and surrounding areas on Friday morning. Army brigades roamed the streets of the tourist town, clearing downed trees and power lines. No deaths or injuries were reported.

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