Hurricane Beryl : Eight Dead, Millions Without Power in US

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At least eight individuals have lost their lives after Hurricane Beryl hit southeast Texas and Louisiana, leaving nearly three million people without power. Beryl arrived in the southern United States on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane but has since weakened to a tropical depression. Authorities warned of damaging winds, up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rainfall, and “life-threatening” storm surges.

On Monday, over 1,100 flights were canceled at Houston’s main airport, according to flightaware.com. As of Tuesday morning, poweroutage.us reported that approximately 2.3 million customers in Texas were without power, with outages also occurring in Louisiana and Arkansas. Texas utility provider CenterPoint Energy announced plans to restore power to at least one million customers by Wednesday evening. The storm also wreaked havoc in the Caribbean, resulting in at least 10 deaths.

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In the United States, officials reported seven deaths in Texas’s Harris and Montgomery counties, with one additional fatality in Louisiana. In Harris County, a 53-year-old man died when winds brought down power lines, causing a tree to collapse onto his home and bring down the roof. In the same county, 73-year-old Maria Loredo died when a tree crashed through her roof, as reported by CBS affiliate KHOU. Loredo’s family, including her son, daughter-in-law, and two young grandchildren, ages two and seven, were at home during the incident but were not injured.

Additionally, in Harris County, Houston Police Department employee Russell Richardson, 54, drowned while attempting to drive through high water on his way to work, according to Houston police. Another fatality in Houston was caused by a house fire believed to have been triggered by lightning, according to the city’s mayor. Three more deaths occurred in Montgomery County: a man was killed by a falling tree while driving a tractor, and two homeless individuals died when a tree fell on their tent, as reported by KHOU.

Houston, a low-lying coastal city, is particularly vulnerable to flooding. Wind speeds in the Houston area reached 75 mph (120 km/h), with gusts up to 87 mph as the storm made landfall. The National Hurricane Center stated that Beryl would continue to weaken as it moved north-northeast, but flash flooding and heavy rain remained significant risks. In Louisiana, where over 20,000 people were without power on Tuesday morning, a person died on Monday when a tree fell on her home in Benton, according to the local sheriff.

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported that Beryl spawned a tornado in Louisiana on Monday. On Tuesday, the threat of tornadoes shifted to Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, as per forecasters. The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Freeport, and Texas City were closed. More than 2,500 emergency responders, including members of the Texas National Guard, have been mobilized to address the aftermath of Beryl.

The storm was expected to move east across central states like Mississippi later in the week, bypassing central and west Texas, which are experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions. At one point, Beryl became the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane. It severely impacted the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mayreau, Union, and Grenada, and was one of the most powerful storms to hit Jamaica. Beryl also brought heavy rainfall to tourist destinations like Cancún and Tulum in southern Mexico.

While attributing specific storms to climate change is complex, extremely high sea surface temperatures are seen as a significant factor in Hurricane Beryl’s intensity. Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. However, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned that the North Atlantic could experience up to seven major hurricanes this year, compared to an average of three per season.

Tropical Depression Beryl is expected to move northeastward, bringing heavy rain and flooding to central Arkansas and the Lower Ohio Valley on Tuesday night, and the Lower Great Lakes and New England on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. “Widespread heavy rains and thunderstorms are likely along and to the northeast of Beryl’s path over the next two days,” the NWS stated, with expected rainfall totals of 2-5 inches from central Arkansas to parts of Vermont and New Hampshire.

On Monday, Beryl brought severe weather to southeast Texas, resulting in at least four fatalities, flooding highways, closing oil ports, canceling more than 1,300 flights, and cutting power to over 2.7 million homes and businesses. The National Hurricane Center reported that Beryl, which was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record this season, weakened after striking the coastal Texas town of Matagorda, located between Corpus Christi and Galveston. The storm had sustained winds of over 80 mph when it made landfall at 4 a.m. CT.

Last week, Beryl left a trail of devastation across the Caribbean, resulting in at least 11 deaths and causing severe damage to infrastructure on several islands. Beryl, which at its peak became the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane, last made landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday morning.

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