Hurricane Beryl knocks out power as it churns across Texas

urricane Beryl lashed Texas with strong winds and heavy rain on Monday as it churned inland, forcing the closure of oil ports, cancellation of hundreds of flights and leaving nearly 2 million homes and businesses without power.

Beryl, the season’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda, Texas early in the day, pounding the coast with dangerous storm surges and heavy rain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The storm, which was expected to rapidly weaken as it moved inland, swept a destructive path through Jamaica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week, killing at least 11 people and toppling buildings and power lines.

In Texas, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on social media platform X on Monday that preliminary information indicated one person died after a tree fell on a house.

In Texas, the biggest U.S. oil and natural gas producing-state, the energy industry braced for Beryl’s impact as the powerful storm slowed refining activity and prompted the evacuation of some production sites.

“Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall is ongoing across portions of Texas. Damaging winds ongoing along the coast, with strong winds moving inland,” the NHC said, adding that Beryl was now expected to lose power.

Following warnings that it could be a deadly storm for communities in its path, residents had rushed to board up windows and stock up on fuel and other essential supplies.

Before daybreak, strong gusts and torrential rain lashed cities and towns such as Galveston, Sargent, Lake Jackson and Freeport, television footage showed.

The storm had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall, but the NHC said it was now expected to weaken rapidly.

“Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm later today and to a tropical depression on Tuesday,” the NHC said. “Steady-to-rapid weakening is expected as the center moves inland.” (Reuters)