Hurricane Beryl is expected to quickly weaken as it makes landfall in Texas

By Tyler Clifford

(Reuters) – Hurricane Beryl made landfall near the coastal city of Matagorda, Texas, on Monday morning, battering coastal areas with dangerous storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain as it moved inland, the National Weather Center said. United States Hurricanes (NHC).

Beryl, the first Category 5 hurricane on record, swept through Jamaica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week, killing at least 11 people and knocking down buildings and power lines.

The approaching storm led to the closure of major oil ports and forced hundreds of flight cancellations, and after warnings in Texas that it could be a deadly storm for communities in its path, residents rushed to board up their windows and get gas. of fuel and other essential supplies.

The storm became a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall, but is now expected to weaken quickly.

“Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm later today and to a tropical depression on Tuesday,” the NHC said. “Continuous or rapid weakening is expected as the center moves inland.”

Currently located about 70 miles (115 km) southwest of Houston, Beryl was moving at 12 mph (19 km/h) and was expected to move through eastern parts of the state throughout the day before moving into the Valley. of the Lower Mississippi. in the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, the NHC said.

Acting Gov. Dan Patrick on Sunday declared 120 counties disaster areas ahead of the storm and warned that Beryl would be a deadly storm for people directly in its path.

Schools said they would be closed as the storm approached. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights and authorities ordered a series of evacuations in coastal cities.

Resident Gary Short said he was most concerned about possible flooding.

“I’m more worried about the rain than anything else,” he said as he filled gas cans at a gas station on Sunday. “Other than that, I’m not too worried. Just getting ready.”

The closure of major oil shipping ports around Corpus Christi, Galveston and Houston ahead of the storm could disrupt crude oil exports, shipments of crude oil to refineries and motor fuel from factories.

Some oil producers, including Shell and Chevron, evacuated personnel from their offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the storm.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford, Brad Heath and Swati Verma; additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad; editing by Helen Popper and Angus MacSwan)