Hurricane Beryl brought heavy rain and strong winds to Houston on Monday morning, resulting in widespread power outages and at least three fatalities, as reported by local officials.
Making landfall near Matagorda at around 4 a.m. as a Category 1 hurricane, Beryl’s 80 mph winds impacted parts of the Texas coast, according to the National Weather Service. By shortly after 10 a.m., it had been downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved north through the Houston area.
By mid-afternoon, Beryl’s rain and winds had mostly left the metro area. However, many bayous and roadways remained flooded, and more than 2.2 million homes and businesses in Houston were without power, according to CenterPoint Energy’s online outage tracker. At least two fatalities were reported due to fallen trees.
“The rains are pretty much ending from south to north,” stated Eric Berger, a meteorologist with Space City Weather, around 2 p.m. on Monday. “We’re going to see pretty significant improvement in these creeks and bayous over the next several hours. … There should be considerable improvement today and into this evening.”
As local officials evaluated the damage and began recovery efforts Monday afternoon, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo identified power outages, flooding, and roadway conditions as the primary concerns. CenterPoint is expected to provide restoration estimates on Tuesday, when the county also plans to open shelters for those affected.
Meanwhile, Hidalgo urged Houston residents to stay home through Monday night.
“Stay where you are unless you really need to go out,” she advised Monday afternoon. “There are lots of hazards out there. There’s debris. There’s water. Sometimes you won’t know until you turn that there’s high water you can’t back away from.”
A tree fell on a home in Humble on Monday morning, killing a 53-year-old man inside, reported the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The man was reportedly “sitting in house with family, riding out the storm. An oak tree fell on roof and hit rafters, structure fell on the male. Wife and children unharmed,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on X.
Another death occurred in northwest Houston, near FM 1960 and Kuykendahl Road, where a 74-year-old woman was killed by a fallen tree, according to Gonzalez and Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey.
A third fatality was announced by Mayor Whitmire on Monday afternoon. A Houston PD employee, driving to work in the morning, was trapped in high water after exiting I-45.
In a late afternoon press conference, Hidalgo stated that first responders are helping the Fire Marshal and County Engineer’s Offices assess the damage caused by Beryl.
“Those are important for us to see if we can reach the thresholds to achieve federal support for our residents,” she said. “And also, there may be government buildings impacted. There may be roads that we really need to clear, etc.”
Hidalgo highlighted the renewed heat as the primary challenge going forward, given the ongoing mass power outages.
“The heat, obviously, is the big problem. So, it’s going to be very hot, it’s going to be very humid, the heat index like what we’ve seen the past few weeks. So, the power continues to be the main threat.”
She added that 7,000 crews are coming to the Houston area from around the country to assist in restoring power.
“This is a major event,” Ramsey stated.