Beryl intensifies into hurricane as Texas braces for storm surges and flash flooding: Live updates

The National Hurricane Center said on Sunday that Tropical Storm Beryl was picking up strength on its approach to Texas, and could make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane.

The storm currently has maximum sustained winds of 65mph, according to the NHC.

Some of the storm’s outer rain bands are beginning to reach the southeast coast of Texas, bringing brief heavy rains and thunderstorms to the region.

Beryl is expected to reach hurricane strength later today.

“We are expecting Beryl to be intensifying up until landfall early Monday, and people should be preparing for the possibility of a category 2 hurricane landfall,” the NHC said in its 11am statement.

With maximum sustained winds increasing to nearly 75 mph (120 km/h), Beryl has been upgraded to a hurricane, said the National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane will further strength before landfall on the Texas coast on Monday, it added.

Beryl has been an extraordinary storm, setting records as the earliest category 5 hurricane ever documented.

It has caused significant destruction across the Caribbean, particularly affecting the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Mayreau, Union, and Grenada.

Beryl was among the most powerful storms ever to strike Jamaica, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity.

The National Weather Service is still predicting that Tropical Storm Beryl will hit Texas as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday morning.

This will make Beryl the first Atlantic hurricane to hit the US in the 2024 summer and fall hurricane season.

The Houston airport has said flight delays or cancellations are possible as Beryl approaches Texas.

It said even for flights departing to or arriving from destinations outside the storm’s direct path, “airlines may need to adjust flight schedules and routes due to the hurricane’s overall impact on their network”.

It urged people not to seek refuge at the airport during the storm.

“As the storm approaches and people plan to stay indoors and safe from the storm, we want to remind everyone that our airports are not equipped to serve as storm shelters. We lack the supplies and staff to accommodate people seeking refuge during the storm,” it said.

The NHC said there is a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation along the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay to Sabine Pass, including Matagorda Bay and Galveston Bay.

Conditions are expected to deteriorate with dangerous storm surges, flash flooding and strong winds as Beryl is expected to make landfall as a hurricane along the Texas coast, the National Hurricane Centre said.

Beryl is 75 miles (120 km) south-southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and approximately 110 miles (180 km) east of Corpus Christi, Texas, according to 10pm CDT advisory.

The storm is moving with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h).

Communities in Florida are uniting to assist other communities damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

The storm killed at least nine people in Carribbean and pummeled the island of Carriacou in Grenada earlier this week.

Floridians — no strangers to the power of hurricanes — have started making donations of critical items and volunteering their time to prepare the donated goods for shipment to hurricane-hit communities that need them the most.

Rain and intensifying winds began lashing Texas coastal residents as powerful storm Berly moved close after leaving a trail of devastation in parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Although Beryl reed a tropical storm Sunday as it churned toward Texas, it threatened to potentially regain hurricane strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall early Monday.

The storm was projected to come ashore in the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles (161 kms) south of Houston, but officials cautioned the path could still change.

Texas officials warned the storm would cause power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough coastal residents and beach vacationers in Beryl‘s path were heeding warnings to leave. “One of the things that kind of trigger our concern a little bit, we’ve looked at all of the roads leaving the coast and the maps are still green,” said Texas Lt gov Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor.