UPDATE: About 1.13 million customers without power as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall near Houston

State and Houston area officials are awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Beryl, which is expected to make landfall in the early morning hours of July 8.

The preview

According to an 11 a.m. National Weather Service update on July 7, Beryl is a 60 mph tropical storm, but is expected to make landfall as an 85 mph Category 1 hurricane. The track has shifted slightly eastward with an expected landfall near or just east of Matagorda Bay in early July.

According to the NWS, the storm is expected to produce between 5 and 10 inches of precipitation in the region, with up to 15 inches where the heaviest rains occur. Several counties in Greater Houston are experiencing warming weather, with sustained winds expected to range from 39 to 73 mph, including Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Montgomery and Galveston counties.

Parts of several counties, including Galveston, are also under hurricane and storm warnings, according to the NWS.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick held a news conference on July 7 to warn coastal residents to prepare for Beryl’s impacts.

Patrick urged residents in coastal areas from Corpus Christi to Galveston Bay to make final preparations or evacuations before July 8 and to avoid road travel on July 8 as the storm makes landfall.

“It’s going to be a heavy rainstorm, but it’s going to move quickly,” Patrick said. “But it’s going to be across the state, so areas like College Station could see significant rain and flooding.”

Although Beryl is still a tropical storm, the NWS still expects the storm to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall on July 8.

“Our number one mission… is to save your lives. That’s our number one mission. Property can be rebuilt, but lives can’t,” Patrick said. “This storm has already killed nine people in the Caribbean. We don’t want the tenth storm to hit Texas.”

Zoom out

In total, 121 Texas counties are now part of a national disaster declaration issued July 5, with hurricane and tropical storm warnings issued for much of South and Southeast Texas.

“We have about six hours until the first tropical storm force winds hit somewhere along the Texas coast. Now is the time to make final preparations to respond to this threat,” Texas Division of Emergency Management Director Nim Kidd said at the news conference.

To look closer

In a July 6 news release, CenterPoint Energy officials said they were monitoring Beryl’s impact on the utility’s electric and natural gas systems.

Real-time power outage updates from CenterPoint’s Outage Tracker are not available, but officials have encouraged customers to sign up for CenterPoint’s Power Alert service to receive updates, including estimated restoration times. Find the latest information from CenterPoint here.

Quote to note

“I have ordered an activation at Level 1: Maximum Preparedness, and the team continues to coordinate with first responders, relevant agencies, Harris County cities and state government in advance of the storm,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a July 7 statement. statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We are doing everything we can to keep residents safe.”

What else?

See the list of school and county closures announced for July 8 here.

Follow communityimpact.com for more updates on Hurricane Beryl.