At least two million people lost power after Hurricane Beryl hit the Houston, Texas, area with flooding, and the residents are now facing days without air conditioning. Beryl reportedly killed 3 in Texas and one person in Louisiana.
Beryl’s landfall was a Category 1 storm, which brought down power lines and trees in Texas.
Parts of Texas were under a heat warning, with highs in the 90s predicted for July 9th. The National Weather Service warned that hazardous circumstances might result from the widespread loss of electricity.
Businesses that operate refineries or industrial facilities said that gas flaring was necessary due to the power outages.
In the Houston area, there were over 2.3 million houses and businesses without power.
Mayor John Whitmire of Houston issued a warning to citizens about the risks posed by rising water, emphasized the need to stay hydrated, and asked them to keep an eye on their neighbors.
The state was establishing facilities for cooling, food distribution, and water treatment, according to Nim Kidd, the head of state emergency operations.
Branches and other debris filled many Houston streets and neighborhoods, and on Monday afternoon, people began to clear the streets and sidewalks of fallen trees and branches.
By the time it made landfall on July 9th, the storm had deteriorated into a tropical depression and was heading northeast with winds of 30 mph. Its power was not anticipated to fluctuate much during the next 24 hours.
Beryl is expected to move through the Mississippi Valley towards the Great Lakes. The weather service predicts thunderstorms mid-week with the potential for flash floods.
In Houston, power outages were too familiar. In May, severe storms swept across the area, flooding streets and killing eight people. Nearly one million people lost electricity as a result.
As it made its way from the Caribbean to Texas, then-Category 5 Hurricane Beryl claimed the lives of at least eleven people in the Atlantic. After Beryl wiped out more than $6.4 million worth of crops and infrastructure in Jamaica, authorities there said on Monday that islanders might face food shortages.
