Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Texas, carrying 90 mph gusts and life-threatening storm surge
Hurricane Beryl has roared ashore, making landfall around Matagorda, Texas at 3:50 a.m. CT Monday as a Category 1 hurricane with gusts over 80 mph.
Watch: Hurricane Beryl's ferocious winds snap palm tree in Texas
A video recorded in Surfside Beach, Texas, shows powerful winds from Hurricane Beryl snapping a palm tree on Monday, July 8, 2024.
HOUSTON BERYL TRACKER: LIVE FORECAST MAPS, TROPICAL WEATHER ALERTS, RAIN, WIND, PROJECTIONS AND MORE
"Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall is ongoing across portions of Texas," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in their 5 a.m. CT update. "Damaging winds ongoing along the coast, with strong winds moving inland."
Beryl's peak sustained winds were holding steady at 80 mph as the storm swirled about 70 miles southwest of Houston, as of the 5 a.m. CT update.
The cyclone’s powerful hurricane-force winds are leading to a rapid increase in power outages. More than 250,000 electrical customers in Texas have already lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Gusts have hit 91 mph in Freeport, 89 mph in Matagorda Bay, 86 mph in Matagorda City, 81 mph in Palacios, 71 mph in Galveston, 66 mph at Houston/Dunn and 58 mph in Houston at Hobby International Airport.
Hurricane Beryl Top Wind Reports
(FOX Weather)
Numerous Hurricane Warnings, Storm Surge Warnings and Tropical Storm Warnings were posted ahead of the storm’s arrival and are still in effect for the Texas Gulf Coast. A threat of tornadoes also prompted a Tornado Watch for the region.
Storm surge is forecast to reach 3-7 feet in some spots near Beryl, and water was already pushing into the Texas coast and bays along Beryl's approach. Measurements have reached 3.2 feet in Sargent and 2.6 feet in Matagorda Bay as of 2:30 a.m. CT. Some of those gauges have since ceased reporting, possibly due to power outages.
Watch: Storm surge flooding forces FOX Weather crew to seek higher ground
The Surfside Beach Fire Department escorts FOX Weather to safety after storm surge flooding from Hurricane Beryl begins to rush inland on Monday, July 8, 2024.
"That (storm) surge is just pouring into Treasure Island," said FOX Weather Storm Tracker Mark Sudduth. "You could literally see it pouring in like a raging river right now."
(FOX Weather)
The ferocious gusts are blasting torrential rainfall falling at rates of 2-4 inches an hour.
"It feels like the entire backs of my legs are on fire because it stings," FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said as she reported live from Surfside Beach, Texas early Monday morning. "The raindrops almost turn into a needle head. Almost like, as if you were getting a tattoo. Like, it's that kind of feel of that persistent needle pressure against your skin."
Forecast for Beryl
Hurricane-force winds over 74 mph are likely to continue near the storm's center – which is forecast to pass near the Houston metro area later Monday morning – with tropical storm-force gusts of 40 mph or more stretching 115 miles out from Beryl's center.
(FOX Weather)
Gusts could reach 60-70 mph in the Houston Metro area Monday morning as Beryl's powerful storm center passes just to the west of the metro area Monday morning.
Peak wind gusts expected with Hurricane Beryl.
(FOX Weather)
Houston's METRO has suspended all local buses and METRORail services until at least 8 a.m. Monday as Beryl moves through East Texas.
Much of East Texas could see 5–10 inches of rain, with localized amounts up to 15 inches by the time Beryl moves out. The Houston area is currently forecast to receive 5–8 inches of rain, with heavier amounts in the southern and western suburbs.
Gulf Coast Rain Forecast
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi, Texas, said any of the outer rain bands could also produce tropical storm-force gusts and even spin up an isolated tornado.
As Beryl continues northward, it’ll bring rain and strong winds as far north as Michigan by the end of the workweek.
Beryl’s current forecast cone shows the storm will weaken as it moves north but maintains tropical depression strength from Arkansas through Michigan throughout the week. A tropical depression is a cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph or less. Unlike tropical storms and hurricanes, tropical depressions are identified by numbers rather than names.
Hurricane Beryl Forecast Cone
(FOX Weather)
The Weather Prediction Center outlined an area from Arkansas through central Illinois that could see flash flooding Tuesday into Wednesday.
Beryl’s destructive past
Beryl formed on June 29 and became the season’s first hurricane. After it rapidly intensified across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean, the storm broke multiple records throughout its trek.
GOES-East view of Hurricane Beryl on Monday afternoon.
(NOAA)
Beryl made its first landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane on Carriacou Island on Monday, July 1.
Just hours after pummeling the Windward Islands, Beryl continued strengthening, reaching Category 5 strength Monday evening. Beryl shattered the record for the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic basin.
Beryl continued through the Caribbean Sea, making a close pass to Jamaica on Wednesday, where Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness was forced to declare the island a disaster area. Beryl produced massive waves along the coast in Kingston as Beryl moved miles off the Jamaican coast. Storm surge sent water rushing into Kingston as Beryl passed the island.
Widespread damage in Jamaica in the wake of Hurricane Beryl
FOX Weather correspondent Robert Ray takes a video tour of the damage left behind in Jamaica after Hurricane Beryl lashed the island Wednesday.
Hurricane Beryl continued, heading straight for Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
By early Saturday morning, Beryl made its second official landfall just northeast of Tulum at 6:05 a.m. ET as a strong Category 2 hurricane with peak winds estimated at 110 mph. The hurricane dropped torrential rains, and brought storm surge to some of Mexico’s popular tourist destinations.
Hurricane Beryl brings strong winds, heavy rains to Tulum, Mexico
Hurricane Beryl strengthened over Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula on Friday morning, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to Tulum as it approached its second landfall.
Even though the Yucatán Peninsula weakened the blow, Beryl still managed to emerge over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Saturday, where it continued to move northward through the weekend.
Texas was Beryl’s third and final landfall before the storm is forecast to deteriorate as it moves northward through the U.S.
Beryl has killed at least 10 people as it made its journey across the Caribbean.
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