MATAGORDA, Texas (news agencies) — Beryl has made landfall on the middle Texas coast near Matagorda with a dangerous storm surge and strong winds. The powerful storm moved over land around 4 a.m. Central Standard Time on Monday, The Nationaal Weather Service said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. news agencies’s earlier story follows below.
MATAGORDA, Texas (news agencies) — Beryl strengthened and again became a hurricane late Sunday as it heads toward southern Texas, where the storm’s outer bands lashed the coast with rain and intensifying winds as residents prepared for the powerful storm that already cut a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center issued an updated advisory at 3 a.m. Central Standard Time warning the storm was expected to make landfall within the next two hours.
“Life-threatening storm surge, heavy rainfall, and strong winds are ongoing across portions of Texas,” the hurricane center said.
The center placed the storm about 15 miles (24.1 kilometers) southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and about 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi.
The hurricane’s top sustained winds were 80 mph (128.7 kph) as the storm moves northwest at 10 mph (16 kph). A hurricane warning is in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the center said.
People on the Texas coast boarded up windows and left beach towns under evacuation order. The storm was projected to come ashore early Monday in the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston, but officials cautioned the path could still change.
As the storm neared the coast, Texas officials warned Sunday it could cause power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough residents and beach vacationers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings to leave.
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