At least 4 dead and thousands affected by power outages after Hurricane Beryl in Texas

Infobae

Washington.-The passage of Tropical Storm Beryl through Texas (USA) left at least 4 dead and caused a massive blackout, affecting more than 2 million people, according to various authorities.

Beryl, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm early on the first business day of the week following making landfall in the southeast of the state on Sunday, will continue to advance toward the center of the country and the Great Lakes area, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The storm is expected to continue to weaken, but the NWS still warned of potential flooding across the state and along the coasts.

The NWS has also issued tornado warnings for eastern Texas and western Louisiana.

In the Houston area, the state’s most populous city and one of the hardest hit by the storm, authorities reported a total of four deaths this followingnoon, including a local police officer.

The latter was identified as Russell Richardson, 54, who died following being trapped in his car in the middle of a flood.

In addition, US media reported that in a suburban area of ​​Harris County, northeast of Houston, a man died when a tree fell on his house and trapped him under the rubble, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. In northern Harris County, a tree fell on a house and killed a 74-year-old woman, Gonzalez said on social media.

Meanwhile, in southeast Houston, a man died in a fire believed to have been started by lightning, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference Monday night.

USA Today reported that Whitmire announced that much of the city was experiencing flooding of more than 10 inches. “We are literally getting calls all over Houston right now asking for emergency services to come rescue people in desperate conditions for their safety,” he said Monday.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also said at a press conference today that more than 2.7 million people across the state are without power and indicated that it will take “several days” to restore service.

CenterPoint Energy, which serves the city, said Beryl had a “greater than expected” impact on its customers and said more than 2.26 million people remained without power on Monday, according to a statement.

“We are mobilizing all of our resources (…) to begin the process of restoring power to our customers quickly and safely,” company vice president Lynnae Wilson said in the statement.

The US National Hurricane Center has forecast that the storm will weaken before reaching the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri, where heavy rains are expected.

Before reaching the United States, Beryl reached the highest category of 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale a week ago in the Caribbean, where it caused death and destruction, and then made landfall early Friday morning in Tulum, Mexico.

Three named tropical storms have formed so far during the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1: Alberto, Beryl and Chris.

This year the Atlantic will have a hurricane season well above average, with the possibility of up to 13 hurricanes, of which up to seven might be major, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States.Infobae.