The deadly Hurricane Beryl was set to hit Texas in the early hours of Monday.
Beryl briefly lost some of its strength over the weekend, after wreaking havoc and causing at least 11 deaths in the Caribbean last week, according to the Associated Press. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicted it would "re-intensify to hurricane strength" bringing "very heavy rain and gusty winds."
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The NHC said Beryl's storm's center would hit Texas just after 1 a.m. on Monday, before moving towards Arkansas by the evening. It warned that the path of its center "does not show the size of the storm" because "hazardous conditions can occur outside the cone," so folks will have been hit with strong winds and rainfall before the center of the storm officially made landfall.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said on Sunday that "heavy showers and thunderstorms associated with the outer rainbands of Beryl have already moved onshore into eastern Texas.
"Additional rainbands will likely impact much of coastal Texas with increasingly squally conditions overnight as the core of Beryl approaches the central Texas coast.
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"Residents in the affected areas should be ready to follow evacuation and other instructions from local officials when prompted to do so."
After Beryl's landfall, it is set to travel northward, across eastern Texas "with very heavy tropical downpours and squally conditions" with a chance for isolated tornadoes.
Coastal areas especially have been warned about intense rainfall, with flash and urban flooding expected.
As Beryl moves inland, the storm is forecast to lose its tropical characteristics by Monday night - but places affected, such as Arkansas and the Mid-Mississippi Valley should brace for "gusty winds" and a "period of heavy rain."
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After unleashing destruction on the Caribbean, where three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, Beryl made its path through Mexico, with its center in the Gulf, just off Mexico, on Friday afternoon.
Multiple Texas counties have already issued voluntary evacuation orders, with the coast in Corpus Christi filled with 10,000 sandbags, officials said.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Greg Abbott is on a trip to Taiwan, issued a pre-emptive disaster declaration for 40 counties, allowing state and local authorities to begin organizing their responses before the storm hit.
These apply to Aransas, Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Brooks, Calhoun, Cameron, DeWitt, Dimmit, Duval, Frio, Goliad, Gonzales, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kenedy, Kinney, Kleberg, LaSalle, Lavaca, Live Oak, Matagorda, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, Uvalde, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Willacy, Wilson, Zapata and Zavala.
The Governor's Office said: "Texans are urged to stay informed, monitor local weather forecasts, follow directions from local officials, make an emergency plan, review hurricane evacuation routes, build a kit containing emergency supplies, and consider reviewing flood risk and insurance coverage. Additionally, visitors to Texas beaches should review beach safety tips and remain aware of the risks of rip currents."
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Jordan King is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on human interest-stories in Africa and the ... Read more
