Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday morning after raging across Jamaica and the Caribbean earlier this week, killing 11 people as southern Texas and the Gulf Coast brace for the storm’s arrival this weekend.
Beryl weakened to a tropical storm with 60 mph as it passed over the Yucatan, but now that the storm’s center is over the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center is predicting Beryl will strengthen again. As of 11 p.m. CT on Friday, Beryl was about 615 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.
The center has extended a hurricane warning for the Texas coast, meaning hurricane conditions are expected within 36 hours. The warning now extends from the mouth of the Rio Grande eastward to San Luis Pass. A hurricane warning is also in effect for mainland Mexico from the Rio Grande southward to Barra el Mezquital.
The center’s forecast cone graph shows Beryl packing 90 mph winds as it approaches the coast Monday somewhere between the Texas-Mexico border and Galveston. The entire Texas coast is within the forecast cone — which shows the likely path of the storm’s center over the next five days.
A storm surge warning is also in effect for most of the Texas coast, from the mouth of the Rio Grande to High Island.
The center said additional warnings may be issued along the U.S. coast later.
Hurricane Beryl expected to move across southern Texas
The hurricane could take 12 to 24 hours to strengthen again after it recovers from its passage across the Yucatán Peninsula and encountered some windy conditions, the hurricane center said Friday.
Winds are expected to become more favorable as Beryl enters the western Gulf, with Beryl expected to become a hurricane in about 36 hours, the hurricane center said. The risk of hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surges is increasing along the coast, and coastal flooding is possible along the Texas and East Texas coast through midweek.
Beryl is expected to produce 5-10 inches of rainfall in Texas, with up to 15 inches in isolated locations, across parts of the coast and East Texas from Sunday night through the middle of next week, the hurricane center said. The storm is also expected to produce a storm surge of 2-5 feet along the coast and dangerous rip currents.
More:Hurricane Beryl Tracker: See the projected path and spaghetti models of the storm hitting Mexico
“Today and Saturday will be the calm before the storm,” the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi wrote in a warning on Friday.
Beryl’s effects are expected to flare up Friday night, including a high risk of rip currents, the center said. Some minor coastal flooding is possible Saturday as showers develop ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.
According to meteorologists, residents should ‘make preparation plans’.
Several major metropolitan areas in Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio, are in the storm’s broad path, according to a weather service warning issued Friday morning.
In Houston, localized heavy rainfall is the “greatest severe weather threat” as Beryl makes landfall near or on the South Texas coast Sunday night or Monday morning and then moves northwest through Wednesday, the weather service said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the state’s emergency management department to increase preparedness for Thursday’s storm.
“As Texas residents and visitors to the southern coastal regions begin celebrating our nation’s Independence Day, I urge them to make emergency plans, check hurricane evacuation routes, and monitor weather conditions to ensure their own safety and that of their loved ones,” he wrote in a press release.
Forecasters are uncertain whether the storm will reach Austin, weather service meteorologist Mack Morris told the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Thursday. By the time the storm reaches Texas, it could be downgraded to a Category 1 storm, he said.
Michael Brennan, director of the Hurricane Center, warned Texas residents to continue checking forecasts through the holiday weekend. If Beryl hits the western Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm, “that could be Saturday during the day,” he said.
‘Yesterday was scary, but… I’m fine’
A light rain shower in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on Friday afternoon relieved Gabi Vasquez of her worries about the hurricane’s effects.
Her auto repair company posted ads on social media offering to repair homes and properties damaged by the storm. As of noon local time, no calls had been received.
“Yesterday was scary, but now I’m fine,” she said.
Her family, who live in Tulum, also assured her they were safe. Their electricity had even stayed on. “Internet — I don’t think they have it, but it’s all good,” she said.
Vasquez did her own preparations for Beryl’s arrival, including securing the windows and doors of her home. “We also bought food like tuna, water and candles,” she said.
Live cam: Hurricane Beryl
More:Sheryl Lee Ralph seeks shelter in Jamaica from Hurricane Beryl: ‘Stay inside’
Some flights cancelled in Cancun due to approaching Hurricane Beryl
More than 1,170 temporary shelters were set up across the Yucatan Peninsula ahead of the storm, according to a state government news release on Thursday. Tulum International Airport was closed and was expected to remain closed until Sunday. Cancun Airport was operational, but many flights were canceled.
Beryl strengthened and became the earliest Category 5 storm on record earlier this week, causing widespread destruction as it moved across the Caribbean Sea.
On Thursday, the storm tore through Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands. The day before, the storm made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 4 hurricane, causing power outages, destroying buildings and forcing hundreds of people to seek emergency shelter.
Authorities on Thursday said the death toll from the storm stood at 11, but more were likely once communications were restored.
Watch:Record-breaking Hurricane Beryl heads west toward Jamaica
Task force deployed to close US embassy
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is expected to close its doors on Friday but is expected to reopen on Monday.
The Mexican government has established a “prevention zone” over the stretch of the Yucatan coastline under hurricane warnings, with dozens of rivers and dams in the areas being monitored, according to a news release Wednesday.
A task force of 8,535 response units and 727 vehicles will be deployed, Tania Patricia Ramírez Gutiérrez, director of Mexico’s National Communications Center, said in the press release.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador advised people to seek high altitudes and shelter at a post on X.
“Let us not hesitate, material things can be found,” he wrote. “The most important thing is life.”
Jamaica, Caribbean Islands Estimate Damage and Deaths from Hurricane Beryl
Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Mexico after causing massive devastation as it passed through the Caribbean.
The storm killed at least 11 people in Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and northern Venezuela.
Jamaica confirmed two deaths from the hurricane, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview Thursday. One body has not yet been recovered, Holness said.
“According to the report, that person was dragged into the sea, but we are still trying to see if we can recover the body,” he said.
According to Richard Thompson, deputy director general of the Jamaican Disaster Management and Emergency Management Agency, one person was killed in the parish of Hanover by a fallen tree.
Holness said officials were assessing the damage the island had suffered. “We have now moved from the preparation phase to the recovery phase,” he said.
More than 90 percent of all homes and buildings on three islands in the Grenadine chain were destroyed by the hurricane as it tore through the islands earlier this week, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday. St. Vincent and the Grenadines “took the brunt of Hurricane Beryl,” said Elizabeth Riley, the agency’s executive director.
According to Nerissa Gittens-McMillan, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, there is a risk of food shortages in St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the storm destroyed half of the island’s banana and plantain harvests.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described the scale of the devastation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as “almost comparable to Armageddon” during a news conference on Tuesday.
“There is literally nothing that can prepare you for this level of destruction.”
Contributions: Reuters