Hurricane Beryl Rolls Through Houston, 1 Million Without Power – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Power outages are increasing along the Texas coast after Hurricane Beryl made landfall Monday and pummeled Houston with heavy rain and powerful winds as the storm moved inland.

The center of the storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. Central Standard Time about 85 miles southwest of Houston, with sustained winds of 80 mph while moving north at 12 mph, the National Weather Service reported.

ONE MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSTON AREA

According to Houston-based CenterPoint Energy, more than a million homes and businesses lost power within hours of Beryl’s landfall. High waters quickly closed streets in Houston and flood warnings were issued across much of the Texas coast.

High waters quickly began closing roads around Houston, which was again under flood warnings after severe storms in recent months washed away neighborhoods and knocked out power in the nation’s fourth-largest city.

More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports, according to tracking data from FlightAware.

Beryl dumped torrential rain on Houston after making landfall and was expected to bring strong winds to eastern Texas near Louisiana as the storm tracked north after making landfall.

“Beryl is moving inland, but it’s not the end of the story yet,” said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

BERYL IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AND INCREASE ITS SPEED AS IT EXITS TEXAS BY TUESDAY

The National Weather Service expected Beryl to weaken to a tropical storm on Monday and a tropical depression on Tuesday, predicting a turn to the northeast and an increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday.

The center of the storm is expected to move toward eastern Texas on Monday, then across the lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather service said.

The storm reached the United States after leaving a trail of destruction over the past week in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Three times in its single week of existence, Beryl saw its wind speed increase by 35 mph in 24 hours or less, which meets the official definition of rapid intensification according to the weather service.

Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early storm indicates the state of warm water in the Atlantic and Caribbean and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the remainder of the storm season, experts said.

Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.