One person dead in Texas after tree falls on home when Hurricane Beryl slams into state

The 53-year-old man was in his house ‘riding out the storm’ with his family when disaster struck

A 53-year-old was killed during Hurricane Beryl after a tree fell on his home outside of Houston, authorities said.

Authorities in Harris County, Texas, said the unnamed man died after getting trapped under the debris, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Monday morning.

The 53-year-old man was reportedly sitting in his house along the 20900 block of Heather Grove Court in Kings River Village of Humble, Texas, with his family and riding out the storm. An oak tree fell on the roof and hit the rafters, causing the structure to fall on the man, the sheriff said.

His wife and children are unharmed.

An American flag waves near a trailer home left overturned by Hurricane Beryl winds in Surfside Beach, Texas on July 8. A 53-year-old man died in the storm when a tree hit his home in Humble, Texas (REUTERS)

Gonzalez said the fire department was on the scene, and he was trying to make it to the home.

Beryl slammed into Texas on Monday morning after causing havoc throughout the Caribbean. The storm brought gusts of upward of 100 mph and a dangerous storm surge to the Lone Star state. Videos and photos on social media showed winds tearing into homes and uprooting trees.

So far, Hurricane Beryl has killed at least 10, including one in Jamaica and three in Venezuela, where the outer rings of the hurricane caused heavy rainfall.

The hurricane has pummelled its way through Caribbean islands, including Jamaica and Grenada, before it hit Mexico at the end of last week, bringing mass devastation after it destroyed homes, flooded areas and left people without power.

Hurricane Beryl slammed into Texas on Monday morning after causing havoc throughout the Caribbean. The storm brought gusts of upward of 100 mph and a dangerous storm surge to the Lone Star state (via REUTERS)

Beryl then made landfall on the Texan coastline at 4am Monday as a Category 1 storm, sustaining maximum winds of 80mph before weakening into a tropical storm.

So far, communities in Texas have been bearing the impacts of the storm, which has downed trees, flooded streets and caused large power outages.

As of 9:30am, over 2 million customers were without power across the state, with the coastline being the hardest hit area, according to poweroutage.us.

Officials have continued to urge people not to drive on the roads as flood warnings have been put in place.

Damaging winds, flooding and heavy rainfall have been battering portions of southeast Texas, including the Houston area, throughout Monday.

More than 1 million people in Texas were placed under a hurricane warning, with Acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick declaring 120 counties to be disaster areas ahead of the storm and warned Beryl “will be a deadly storm.”

School systems, airports and major oil shipping operations have been suspended and will remain closed for the day on Monday.