Hurricane Beryl strengthened from a tropical storm back into a hurricane early Monday morning, making landfall along the Texas coast as a Category 1 storm. As it moved inland, Beryl unleashed severe weather, prompting water rescues, disrupting hundreds of flights, and leaving more than 2 million people without power and at least two dead.
Beryl had winds of over 80 mph as it made landfall around 4:30 a.m. near Matagorda, a coastal community between Corpus Christi and Galveston, according to the National Hurricane Center. Through the morning much of eastern Texas was inundated with “life-threatening storm surge,” torrential rain and powerful wind gusts of up to 84 mph in the Houston area, the National Hurricane Center said.
Shortly after landfall, the Weather Service office in Houston issued a tornado warning for multiple counties. The Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center also warned of the possibility of twisters from far east Texas into northwest Louisiana and far southwest Arkansas.
Pictures and videos show Hurricane Beryl unleashing gusts of winds and heavy rainfall and wreaking havoc across Texas.
Live updates:Hurricane Beryl pummels Texas with ‘life-threatening’ conditions
See the impact of Hurricane Beryl in Texas:
Preparing for Hurricane Beryl
Earlier, as Hurricane Beryl gained strength over the weekend, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had issued a disaster declaration for 120 central and eastern counties, prompting residents to prepare for the storm by stocking up on essentials and ensuring their homes can brace the impact of the hurricane.
Destruction across the Caribbean
Last week, Beryl carved a path of destruction across the Caribbean — leaving at least 11 people dead and destroying or severely damaging infrastructure on several islands. Beryl, which at one point strengthened into the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, last made landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning before it weakened into a tropical storm.
Contributing: Doyle Rice, Thao Nguyen, Cheryl McCloud, Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.
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