Beryl is heading for Texas, expected to gain strength on Monday

“If this happens, it will most likely be a Category 1 hurricane,” warned Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

Storm Beryl was moving through the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas on Sunday and is expected to regain hurricane strength before reaching the coast and making landfall on Monday with heavy rains, strong winds and a dangerous storm surge.

A hurricane watch was in effect for a long stretch of coastline from Baffin Bay south of Corpus Christi to Sargent, south of Houston. Storm surge warnings were also in effect. Other areas were under tropical storm warnings.

“We expect the storm to make landfall somewhere along the Texas coast sometime on Monday,” said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami. “If that happens, it will most likely be a Category 1 hurricane.”

As of Sunday morning, Beryl was regarding 355 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Corpus Christi and had maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers (58 mph), according to the NHC, moving northwest at 20 km/h (12 mph).

Beryl, the earliest storm to reach Category 5 status in Atlantic hurricane season records, killed at least 11 people as it swept through the Caribbean this week.

It then hit Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, downing trees but causing no deaths, before weakening to a tropical storm as it passed over the Yucatan Peninsula.

Authorities in Texas warned residents along the coast to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott travels to Taiwan, issued a precautionary disaster declaration for 121 counties.

“Beryl is a determined storm, and incoming winds and potential flooding will pose a serious threat to Texans in the path of Beryl as it makes landfall and moves across the state over the next 24 hours,” Patrick said in a statement Saturday.

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

Matagorda County spokesman Mitch Thames said authorities have issued a voluntary evacuation request for coastal areas of the county regarding 100 miles southwest of Houston.

In Corpus Christi, officials urged visitors to shorten their trips and return home early if possible. They also urged residents to secure their homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to protect once morest possible flooding.

Before hitting Mexico, Beryl left a trail of destruction in Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados. Three people died in Grenada, three in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

With information from Agencies