Beryl expected to hit Texas as a Category 1 hurricane

As of 5 p.m. Eastern time, the storm was 135 miles (217 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi and moving northwest at 12 mph (19 km/h). The storm’s outer rainbands were already affecting the southern Texas coast, with dangerous storm surge, flash flooding, high winds and possibly tornadoes expected overnight. Storm surge (or the rise of ocean waters above normally dry land) had reached about 18 inches (45 centimeters) along much of the Texas and Louisiana coastline, while waves were growing.

Winds also increased, with many coastal areas measuring gusts of 30 to 40 mph, particularly around Houston and Galveston.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) declared a state of emergency in 121 counties and warned residents that travel would be difficult Monday. Galveston officials said they expected a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet, with the potential for up to 7 feet, triggering major flooding in the West End section of the barrier island.

Refugio County and the city of Quintana ordered the evacuation of all residents, while Aransas County and others ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas. Matagorda County, Galveston and many other communities called for voluntary evacuations.

Patrick said he was concerned that too few people were leaving coastal areas when they still could. He added that traffic monitors do not show many people leaving the most at-risk areas.

At Matagorda Beach on Sunday night, a man was fishing for sea trout and a few families played in the growing surf, where the waves crashed dozens of yards farther inland than they do during normal high tides.

But the neighborhood was nearly empty, with plywood boarded over the windows of fishing shacks and vacation homes. “It already looks pretty bad,” Brittany Tarver said, adding that she planned to move her family to a safer place soon, inside a house they had already condemned.

Texans often say authorities are being overly cautious, Patrick said. He offered a warning: “Let’s pray that nothing happens where you live, but something is going to happen where some of you live.”

The National Hurricane Center said Sunday that Beryl would bring “life-threatening storm surge flooding danger” and “destructive hurricane-force winds” to the lower and central Texas coast, as well as flash and urban flooding from torrential rains.

School districts in Houston and along the coast canceled classes Monday, as did the University of Houston. Many municipalities also said non-emergency offices would not reopen until Tuesday. The Houston Independent School District, the eighth-largest public school district in the country with about 190,000 students, said it would remain closed Tuesday.

The storm gained strength as it moved north, endangering the western suburbs of Houston. The Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning Sunday afternoon for the Texas coast from Baffin Bay north to the San Luis Pass and urged people to step up their preparations.

President Biden is monitoring the storm’s progress, a White House official told CNN. “We are in close contact with our state and local counterparts and FEMA has prepositioned response personnel, search and rescue teams, bottled water, meals, tarps and power generators in case they are needed,” the official said.

Residents who chose to stay boarded up their windows and stocked up on food, gasoline and medicine. Patrick, in charge while Gov. Greg Abbott (R) traveled overseas on a trade mission, said he was concerned that tourists in town for the July Fourth holiday might miss news about the storm’s severity and direction. He said 2,000 state responders would be on hand to help.

The U.S. Coast Guard said its response would be limited during the storm and encouraged boaters to be prepared.

Even 50 miles inland, the town of Falfurrias offered sandbags to homes and businesses.

The mood in the coastal town of Rockport was calm, said Robert Haskin, a contractor helping residents prepare. He said he has boarded up 1,500 windows in the past day and a half.

“They’re just doing it as a precaution; they don’t think it’s going to be as big a storm as Harvey,” he said, referring to the Category 4 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast in 2017.

In Matagorda, Randy Tarver, Brittany Tarver’s stepfather, said he was worried about the rain that would come with Beryl, given that the area’s soil is already saturated from recent storms.

“The ground is wet, the ditches are full,” he said.

At Buddy’s Seafood and Bait in Matagorda, Stephani McIntosh was preparing to close her doors and hunker down at home with her boyfriend and young son. Although she has weathered storms in Texas before, this would be her first hurricane since arriving in Matagorda about a year ago, she said.

“I think everything will be fine,” said McIntosh, 37. “I never really thought about leaving.”

As the storm approached, she acknowledged she felt some consternation about the night ahead. She said the trio planned to stay together and watch television until the power or internet went out.

Beyond the 75 mph limit for a Category 1 hurricane, Beryl could become a more destructive Category 2 hurricane, officials said. It strengthened and weakened surprisingly as it moved, at one point becoming the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record.

It caused significant damage in parts of Grenada, Jamaica and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula along its more than 3,000-mile journey.

Rainfall of 6 to 8 inches is expected in the Houston area through Tuesday, the Houston Chronicle reported, with totals of 10 to 15 inches possible between Galveston and Matagorda Bay. The newspaper said wind gusts were expected to reach 60 to 70 mph in the Houston area late Monday morning.

Hurricane warnings affected more than a million people from south of Corpus Christi to south of Galveston. Storm surge warnings extended from near Corpus Christi to the Texas-Louisiana border. Houston was under a tropical storm warning.

The storm is expected to move north through Texas, staying well east of Dallas, before heading toward Arkansas Tuesday morning.

Meteorologists are predicting an unusually active hurricane season. Experts say the more intense storms are occurring more frequently because of climate change. Warming ocean surfaces are fueling these hurricanes, which can produce tornadoes as well as a series of smaller rainstorms.

Cyclone Beryl made landfall in Grenada on Monday, devastating the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where nearly 98 percent of homes and buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Parts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were also badly affected, including Union Island, where the country’s prime minister said nearly all of its 2,500 residents lost their homes.

Beryl then swirled around Jamaica on Wednesday, weakening to a Category 4 hurricane, before hitting the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday as a Category 2 hurricane.

Menn reported from San Francisco, and Brasch, Samenow and Somasundaram reported from Washington. Matthew Cappucci in Austin and Dan Stillman in Washington contributed to this report.