Texas on alert as Beryl approaches, expected to regain hurricane strength

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas officials urged coastal residents to prepare for the imminent arrival of Beryl, which was a tropical storm Saturday but is expected to regain hurricane strength as it moves through Texas. hot waters from the Gulf of Mexico.

A hurricane warning was issued for a stretch of the state’s coast from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston, and forecasters said the center of the storm was likely to approach the state Sunday and then make landfall the next day. Storm surge warnings were also in effect.

“We expect the storm to make landfall somewhere on the Texas coast sometime Monday, if current forecasts are correct,” said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “If that were to happen, it would most likely be a Category 1 hurricane.”

The first storm to turn into a Category 5 Hurricane In the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean islands earlier in the week. It then hit Mexico is a Category 2 hurricanetoppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Texas officials warned residents across the coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind as the storm approaches.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting for Gov. Greg Abbott while he travels to Taiwan, issued a precautionary disaster declaration for 121 counties.

“Beryl is a determined storm, and the incoming winds and potential flooding will pose a serious threat to Texans in Beryl’s path at landfall and as it tracks across the state for the next 24 hours,” Patrick said in a statement Saturday.

Some coastal cities have called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling over the July 4 holiday weekend to move their recreational vehicles from coastal parks.

Mitch Thames, a spokesman for Matagorda County, said Saturday that officials had issued a voluntary evacuation request for coastal areas of the county about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston to advise of the large number of visitors to the area for the holiday weekend.

“I certainly don’t want to ruin our visitors’ holiday weekend. But at the same time, our number one goal is the health and safety of all of our visitors and of course our residents. I’m not so much worried about our residents. The people who live there are used to it, they understand it,” Thames said.

In Corpus Christi, officials urged visitors to shorten their stay and return home as soon as possible. Officials urged residents to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to protect against possible flooding.

“We’re taking the storm very seriously and we’re asking the community to take the storm very seriously as well,” Corpus Christi Fire Chief Brandon Wade said at a news conference Friday evening.

Traffic has been backed up for three days at an Ace Hardware store in Corpus Christi as customers buy tarps, ropes, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.

“They’re just worried about wind and rain,” she said. “They want to be prepared just in case.”

Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Corpus Christi’s Padre Island, said there was “definitely a lot of excitement around the impending storm,” with customers stocking up on food and drinks, especially meat and beer.

“I heard there were rumors that people were having parties to celebrate the hurricane,” he said by telephone Saturday.

In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi along the Texas Gulf Coast, authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for its 6,700 residents.

Refugio County Judge Jhiela “Gigi” Poynter, the county’s top elected official, said that because of growing confidence in Beryl’s path and uncertainty about the storm’s intensity and holiday weekend traffic already clogging roads, she made the decision to call for a mandatory evacuation.

“I would rather be cautious and let Tropical Storm Beryl come crawling in with a little rain and a little wind into an empty Refugio County than the alternative if it were to strengthen more than expected, which we know has happened with several storms in the past,” Poynter said in a video posted to Facebook.

As of Saturday night, Beryl was located about 330 miles (535 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi and had sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest at 12 mph (20 km/h).

Before hitting Mexico and moving into the Gulf, Beryl had already spread Destruction in JamaicaSt. Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados this week. Three people were killed in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, authorities said.

Mexican authorities had already evacuated some tourists and residents from low-lying areas of the Yucatan Peninsula before the typhoon hit, but tens of thousands stayed behind to ride out the high winds and storm surges. Much of the area around Tulum is just a few meters above sea level.

The city was plunged into darkness as the storm knocked out power as it made landfall. High winds set off car alarms across the city. Wind and rain continued to batter the coastal city and surrounding areas Friday morning. Army brigades scoured the streets of the tourist town, clearing fallen trees and power lines. No deaths or injuries were reported.

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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and Martín Silva in Tulum, Mexico, contributed to this report.