At least seven people dead as Beryl rips through Texas coast
HOUSTON – At least seven Texans, and one Louisianan, have died after Hurricane Beryl ripped through the Texas coast.
At a press conference Monday evening, Houston's mayor told residents they are not out of the woods yet, even though Beryl has passed through.
"Don't let the clear skies fool you,” said Houston Mayor John Whitmire. “We still have dangerous circumstances, we still have high water across our city."
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That advisement as first responders were out conducting rescues.
Houston firefighters rescued a man trapped in bed and another resident when a tree fell on the house. Two other people died in separate incidents of trees falling on homes in Harris County on Monday, authorities said. Another person died when lightning started a house fire, and a civilian employee of the Houston police department died when his car became stuck in floodwaters.
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Across the area fallen trees, collapsed roofs, and flooded interstates painted a grim picture for Texans as beryl made its way further inland, spawning tornadoes and at one point producing wind gusts reaching as high as 94 miles per hour in some areas.
Deborah Tony, Jamaica Beach Resident: "The wind tunnel just went crazy...stuff started flying off the walls... zinging around the house," said Deborah Tony, a resident of Jamacia Beach.
Beryl made landfall southwest of Houston on Monday morning as a category 1 hurricane, eventually morphing into a tropical storm.
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It knocked out power for more than 2.7 million Texas customers, most of them Houstonians.
The lieutenant governor confirmed that they are already in recovery mode.
Dan Patrick, Lt. Governor of Texas: "We are strong and we will pull together. Texans always pull together."
