Beryl , this week’s earliest storm in the Atlantic to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane, killed at least 11 people as it moved across the Caribbean islands. Though Beryl was still a tropical storm on Saturday, officials in Texas warned coastal people to prepare for her impending arrival. As she advances across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the storm is predicted to intensify into a hurricane. On July 6, 2024, at Playa Bagdad, Mexico, a drone view captures fishermen as tropical storm Beryl continues to travel over the Gulf of Mexico. Though Beryl was still a tropical storm on Saturday, officials in Texas warned coastal people to prepare for her impending arrival. As she advances across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the storm is predicted to intensify into a hurricane. On July 6, 2024, at Playa Bagdad, Mexico, a drone view captures fishermen as tropical storm Beryl continues to travel over the Gulf of Mexico.
Texas authorities voiced concern that not enough locals and beachgoers in Beryl’s path had heeded advice to evacuate as the storm approached the coast on Sunday. They also warned that floods and power disruptions could result from the storm. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor of the state while Gov. Greg Abbott is abroad, stated, “One of the things that kind of trigger our concern a little bit is we’ve looked at all of the roads leaving the coast and the maps are still green.” “There aren’t many people leaving, then.” The hurricane center advised citizens to be ready for potential flash flooding in areas of middle, upper, and eastern Texas as well as Arkansas when the storm gradually swings to the north and then northeast later on Monday. Tropical storm winds extended 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the center. Many locals and business owners along the Texas coast expressed skepticism about the storm’s intensity while still taking standard storm safety preparations. Jimmy May, an electrical supply company owner in Port Lavaca, covered his shop’s windows with plywood and expressed no anxiety over a potential storm surge. He remembered how his company had avoided flooding during a prior hurricane that produced a storm surge of 20 feet (6 meters).
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According to Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, “if the current forecast is correct, we’re expecting the storm to make landfall somewhere on the Texas coast sometime Monday.” “It’ll probably be a Category 1 hurricane if that happens.” Beryl was the first storm in the Atlantic to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane, and during its passage through the Caribbean earlier this week, it claimed at least 11 lives. After that, it pounded Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, uprooting trees and not injuring or killing anyone. As it passed over the Yucatan Peninsula, it weakened to become a tropical storm.
As the hurricane approached, Texas officials advised residents along the whole coast to get ready for potential flooding, strong winds, and rain. While Governor Greg Abbott is away in Taiwan, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is serving in his place, has declared 121 counties to be in preemptive disaster mode. “Texans who are in Beryl’s path at landfall and as it moves across the state for the next 24 hours will face a serious threat from incoming winds and potential flooding,” Patrick stated in a statement on Saturday. “Beryl is a determined storm.” Certain coastal communities prohibited beach camping asked visitors arriving over the July 4 holiday weekend to remove their recreational vehicles from coastal parks and called for the voluntary evacuation of low-lying regions that were vulnerable to floods.
From the center, tropical storm winds reached a distance of 115 miles (185 kilometers)
Many locals and business owners along the Texas coast expressed skepticism about the storm’s intensity while still taking standard storm safety preparations. Jimmy May, an electrical supply company owner in Port Lavaca, covered his shop’s windows with plywood and expressed no anxiety over a potential storm surge. He remembered how his company had avoided flooding during a prior hurricane that produced a storm surge of 20 feet (6 meters). “You should leave the low-lying areas of town if you’re in them,” he said. On Sunday night, when strong winds blew in from the bay, Percy Roberts at the local marina demonstrated to his neighbor Ken Waller how to properly tie up his boat.
Waller remarked, “This is going to be the first hurricane I’m going to be experiencing,” adding that although he’s a little anxious, he feels safe by Roberts’ side. “Hopefully for the best, but prepare for the worst,” Beryl was the first storm in the Atlantic to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane, and when it was traveling across the Caribbean to Texas, it left at least 11 people dead. The hurricane’s destructive winds and storm surge, exacerbated by the record-warm Atlantic, tore off doors, windows, and roofs. Beryl has increased her wind speed by 35 mph (56 kph) or more three times in her first week of life—against the official weather service’s criteria of rapid intensification—in less than a day.
Beryl’s preparations extend beyond the shore
Patrick declared a catastrophe for 120 counties in the center and east while Abbott was away on an official trip to Asia. He also cautioned locals that Beryl’s threats extended beyond her strong winds. Heavy rains and flash floods could affect inland places like College Station and Texarkana, which are hundreds of miles from the coast and border Arkansas. Beryl’s trajectory extends as a tropical rainstorm, not a hurricane, all the way north to the Great Lakes. “There will be a lot of spinning motion in the rain bands and squalls to the east and southeast of Beryl’s center, which can produce tornadoes,” senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski of AccuWeather said.
According to AccuWeather, severe rain is also expected to affect Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana through Tuesday. Officials from Texas have urged people who live inland to refuel, stockpile food and water, and maintain contact with friends and family. Patrick also suggested that they follow developments and restrict their travel beginning on Monday.