Beryl likely to regain punch in track toward South Texas

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Mexican army soldiers set up a mobile kitchen Friday to assist people in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, who have been affected by the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Elizabeth RUIZ/Getty-AFP

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By Juan Lozano and Jim Vertuno Associated Press

HOUSTON — Texas officials Saturday were urging coastal residents to brace for a potential hit by Beryl as the storm is expected to regain hurricane strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’re expecting the storm to make landfall somewhere on the Texas coast sometime Monday, if the current forecast is correct,” said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “Should that happen, it’ll most likely be a Category 1 hurricane.”

The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean islands earlier in the week. It then battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Texas officials warned the state’s entire coastline to brace for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind as they wait for a more defined path of the storm. The hurricane center has issued hurricane and storm surge warnings from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to San Luis Pass, less than 80 miles south of Houston.

“There is an increasing risk of damaging hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surge along portions of the lower and middle Texas coast late Sunday into Monday,” the center said in an advisory, also warning that flash and urban flooding is likely in the eastern part of the state through the middle of the week.

On Saturday, Beryl was about 415 miles southeast of Corpus Christi and had top sustained winds of 60 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving west-northwest at 12 mph.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a preemptive disaster declaration for 121 counties.

Some Texas coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the July 4 holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks.

Mitch Thames, a spokesman for Matagorda County, said Saturday that officials issued a voluntary evacuation request for the coastal areas of the county about 100 miles southwest of Houston to inform the large number of visitors in the area for the holiday weekend.

“You always plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Thames said. “I certainly don’t want to ruin the holiday weekend for our visitors. But at the same time, our No. 1 goal is the health and safety of all our visitors and of course our residents.”

In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible.

Officials asked residents to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.

“We’re taking the storm very serious and we’re asking the community to take the storm very serious as well,” Corpus Christi Fire Chief Brandon Wade said Friday.