MATAGORDA, Texas () Beryl has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it makes its way across Texas on Monday morning after making landfall in Matagorda as a Category 1 storm with about 80 mph winds.
As of 10 a.m. Central time, the hurricane had sustained winds of 70 mph and was projected to move up along eastern Texas through Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said preliminary reports confirmed at least one fatality from the storm after a tree fell on a home, shattering the structure and trapping a 53-year-old man under the debris. Gonzalez said the man was riding out the hurricane with his wife and children who were unharmed.
Before the storm made landfall, Texas officials had issued preemptive disaster declarations for 121 counties along with evacuation orders for some areas. Officials also warned of dangerous storm surges and flash flooding along Texas’ southern coast.
The storm’s center hit land as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. about 85 miles southwest of Houston with top sustained winds of 80 mph while moving north at 12 mph, the National Weather Service reported.
A White House official confirmed to that President Joe Biden is receiving regular updates from his team on Hurricane Beryl as it moves through the States.
On the ground in Matagorda
Power outages have mounted along the coast after Beryl’s arrival, lashing Houston with heavy rains and powerful winds.
Just over 2 million homes and businesses were without power Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. High waters quickly began to close streets across Houston, and flood warnings were in effect across a wide stretch of the Texas coast.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports, according to tracking data from FlightAware.
correspondent Stephanie Haines was in the eye of the storm Monday morning, reporting an “eerie calm” as the eye moved over Matagorda. The storm had flooded streets and downed tree branches.
“There is still a bit of wind, still a bit of rain; but let me tell you, overnight, it felt otherworldly. I can say we were in our hotel, the whole building, the four-story building was shaking,” Haines reported.
She continued, “It feels like a bit of a ghost town.”
Storm chaser Kyle Cutten joined ‘s “Morning in America” on Monday as he drove through Beryl’s eye, saying it felt as though winds were whipping up to 100 mph.
Cutten said the strong winds were shredding roofs on small homes and power lines were knocked out in front of him. He even compared the storm to a Category 4 hurricane, saying if he didn’t know what category it was being measured at, he would have thought it to be a Cat 4 or higher.
Looking ahead
“I’m absolutely scared for what’s coming ahead for the United States of America. I have never seen anything like this on the letter ‘B,'” Cutten said. “I honestly thought that was a rapid intensification and we were hitting a (Category) 4/5. That’s how bad it was. So, I’ll be curious to see where the reports come in.”
The NWS expected Beryl to weaken to a tropical storm Monday and a tropical depression Tuesday, forecasting a turn to the northeast and an increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday. The storm was projected to move toward the Northeast through Tuesday and Wednesday, crossing through the Lower Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio Valley.
The storm reached the U.S. after leaving a trail of destruction over the last week in Mexico and the Caribbean.