Beryl live updates: Texas issues disaster declaration for 40 counties ahead of hurricane making landfall
Beryl has weakened to a tropical storm but is expected to regain strength over the weekend
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Beryl is heading toward Texas after making landfall at the popular Mexico tourist destination Tulum on Friday morning with 85mph winds and dangerous storm surge. The state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has issued a disaster declaration for 40 counties ahead of the storm’s arrival.
Tropical Storm Beryl is set to bring dangerous rip currents to the Gulf Coast over the weekend before likely hitting southern Texas late Sunday. The storm will likely re-strengthen into a hurricane as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, the National Weather Service said. Beryl is expected to hit Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, according to Accuweather.
Governor Greg Abbott warned Texans to prepare for impact.
“As Texans and visitors in south coastal areas celebrate Independence Day, I urge them to also make an emergency plan to stay safe,” Abbott said.
Hurricane Beryl has killed at least eleven people, the Associated Press reports. Two of those killed — the first in St George’s, Grenada and the second in Hanover, Jamaica — died after hurricane-force winds knocked trees onto their homes.
Hurricane Beryl devastated Jamaica on Wednesday, knocking out power to 400,000 and destroying buildings. Grenada was also left with “unimaginable” destruction after the storm passed through Monday, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said, leaving 98 percent of buildings damaged or destroyed.
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Texas officials issue disaster declaration for 40 counties ahead of Beryl landfall
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick — who is acting governor while Governor Greg Abbott is out of country traveling — has issued a disaster declaration for 40 counties ahead of Beryl’s landfall as an expected Category 1 hurricane.
The declaration allows state resources to be used in preperatory work and recovery efforts.
Abbott advised Texans living in the storm’s path to begin preparing now for the storm’s arrival.
WATCH: Beryl hits parts of Mexico
Watch live: Tourists left stranded at Cancun airport after Hurricane Beryl makes landfall on Mexican coast
Hurricane Beryl strengthened back into a Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph on Thursday, July 4, and made landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula overnight.
Beryl is now heading toward Texas after making landfall at the popular Mexico tourist destination Tulum on Friday morning with 85mph winds and dangerous storm surge.
Watch live:
Watch live: Tourists stranded at Cancun airport after Hurricane Beryl makes landfall
Watch live on Saturday (6 July) as tourists have been stranded at Cancun airport after Hurriance Beryl made landfall on the Mexican coast
Beryl hurricane, storm surge watches in effect across Texas and north coastal Mexico
The National Weather Service announced storm surge and hurricane wanrings for Texas’ east coast on Friday night.
Those warnings extend from the mouth of the Rio Grande to San Luis Pass further north.
Coastal Harris County is also under the warning.
The hurricane watch is in effect for Mexico’s northeastern coast between Barra el Mezquital to the mouth of the Rio Grande.
Texas residents given voluntary evacuation nudge
Officials in Matagorda County emergency management called for a voluntary evacuation on Friday night for residents living and visiting the state’s coast ahead of Beryl’s arrival on Sunday.
The voluntary evaucation includes residents in Sargent, Matagorda, and Palacios counties.
A voluntary evacuation is essentially a strong recommendation for residents to and visitors to seek shelter elsewhere until it is safe to return.
Rains from Beryl may stretch well into next week for Texans
When Storm Beryl arrives in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, it is expected to bring 5-10 inches of rainfall, with some locations seeing as high as 15 inches.
The rain will most affect the eastern coast of Texas beginning later on Sunday and stretching into the middle of next week, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Along with the rain high winds, the storm will also bring a 2-5 foot storm surge to the coast.
World Central Kitchen sends aid to Carriacou Island
World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief non-profit, has sent a support team to Grenada’s Carriacou Island in the wake of Beryl.
The storm “flattened” the island in half an hour on Monday, officials said, after it swept through the region as a Category 5 hurricane.
More than 10,000 sea turtle eggs were rescued from Mexico’s beach ahead of Hurricane Beryl
As Hurricane Beryl approached Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula this week, officials scrambled to evacuate an especially vulnerable group - sea turtle eggs.
Mexican officials moved to save the eggs on Wednesday ahead of the storm, which made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane near Tulum early Friday.
Officials relocated the eggs using sand-filled coolers and helped insulate their nests along the beach, the Associated Press reported. Storm surge and rises in sea level — conditions which Beryl and other storms cause — pose significant threats to sea turtle eggs, because they can’t hatch if they’re swept out to sea.
Read more:
Hurricane Beryl updates: Thousands of sea turtle eggs evacuated from Mexican beaches
Hurricane conditions can sweep turtle eggs out to sea, where they can’t hatch
Rapid analysis shows Beryl impacted by climate crisis
Beryl, now a tropical storm after hitting Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, was made 10-30 percent more intense due to human-induced climate change, according to a rapid analysis study by Climameter.
Beryl’s higher intensity was also driven by natural weather patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, according to the Climameter study.
Beryl made history the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane this week.
“It’s really scary stuff,” Steve Maximay, a climate and agriculture expert in Grenada, previously told The Independent.
”When you talk about Category 4 and 5, there are very few systems or protocols that can prepare you for that,” Maximay continued. “You can have resilient buildings but category five winds can move concrete structures.”
Hurricane Beryl’s growth into a Category 5 storm can be partly attributed to record-warm ocean temperatures. High water temperatures can contribute to sea level rise and hurt marine life in addition to fueling strong storms like Hurricane Beryl. Ocean temperatures will likely continue to rise even if we curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to NOAA.
Island nations are at the front lines of the climate crisis, given their vulnerability to violent storms and sea-level rise.
The Alliance of Small Island States, an organization designed to create a unified voice for small island nations to address the ongoing climate crisis, denounced the climate crisis and its impact on island nations.
ICYMI: Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph posts from Kingston, Jamaica as Hurricane Beryl hits the island
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