HOUSTON (AP) — Beryl was rushing through the hot waters Gulf of Mexico on a collision course with Texas, forecast to gain strength and regain hurricane status before approaching the coast Sunday and making landfall the next day with heavy rain, howling winds and dangerous storm surge.
A hurricane warning was issued for much of the coast from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston, and storm surge warnings were also in effect. Other areas were under tropical storm warnings.
“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.”
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).
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 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 have warned residents across the coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind.
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 weekend to move their recreational vehicles from coastal parks.
Mitch Thames, a Matagorda County spokesman, said officials have issued a voluntary evacuation request for coastal areas of the county about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.
“Our number one goal is the health and safety of all 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 asked visitors to shorten their stay and return home as soon as possible. Residents were urged to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to protect against possible flooding.
Traffic has been backed up for three days at an Ace hardware store in the city 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 buzz around the impending storm,” with customers stocking up on food and drinks, especially meat and beer.
In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, authorities have issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 6,700 residents.
Before arriving in Mexico, Beryl worked Destruction in JamaicaSaint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados. Three people were killed in Grenada, three in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.
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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.
