Hurricane Beryl live updates: Storm strengthens to Category 2 hurricane as Texas braces for impact

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

The hurricane is expected to strengthen further before making landfall off the Texas coast on Monday, it said.

Beryl was an extraordinary storm, setting records as the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever documented.

The hurricane caused widespread devastation in the Caribbean, particularly on the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Mayreau, Union and Grenada.

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

The National Weather Service continues to predict that Tropical Storm Beryl will hit Texas as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday morning.

This makes Beryl the first Atlantic hurricane to hit the U.S. during the summer and fall 2024 hurricane season.

Houston Airport has indicated that flight delays or cancellations are possible as Beryl approaches Texas.

Also, for flights departing to or arriving at destinations outside the direct path of the storm, “airlines may need to adjust their flight schedules and routes due to the overall impact of the hurricane on their network.”

People were urged not to seek shelter at the airport during the storm.

“As the storm approaches and people plan to stay indoors and be safe from the storm, we want to remind everyone that our airports are not equipped to serve as storm shelters. We do not have enough supplies and personnel to accommodate people seeking shelter during the storm,” the report said.

According to the NHC, there is a risk of life-threatening storm surge flooding 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, according to the National Hurricane Center.

According to the 10 p.m. CDT advisory, Beryl is located 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and about 110 miles (180 km) east of Corpus Christi, Texas.

The storm is moving with sustained wind speeds of up to 110 km/h.

Communities in Florida are joining forces to help other communities affected by Hurricane Beryl.

The storm killed at least nine people in the Caribbean and also hit the island of Carriacou in Grenada earlier this week.

Florida residents, no strangers to the power of hurricanes, have begun donating essential items and volunteering their time to prepare the donated goods for shipment to hurricane-affected communities that need them most.

Rain and increasing winds battered residents along the Texas coast as powerful Storm Berly approached, leaving a trail of destruction across parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Although Beryl was still a tropical storm as it moved toward Texas on Sunday, the storm threatened to regain hurricane strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall Monday morning.

The storm was expected to make landfall in the mid-Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston. However, officials warned that its path could still change.

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

Beryl is expected to make landfall in southeast Texas early Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane.

State officials have issued disaster declarations for 121 counties in advance of the storm’s arrival.