Beryl to strengthen on approach to Texas coast, greatest impacts east of San Antonio

UPDATE | Beryl is set to make landfall tonight, intensifying and organizing

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Beryl is becoming better organized this morning and is about 195 miles SSE of Matagorda. Matagorda Bay is the likely area of landfall Monday morning. The Brownsville radar is showing an eyewall beginning to take shape. Maximum sustained winds are 65 mph with high gusts likely. Tropical storm force winds extend out 125 miles from the center.

Rapid intensification is possible up to landfall on Monday morning between 12 am and 3 am. Forecast models show a Category 1 storm, however, it is entirely possible it could reach low-end Category 2 strength.

Slight shifts to the east remain possible as Beryl heads to the mid and upper Texas coast. Significant impacts will shift eastward as well. Winds of 50-70 mph will be possible near the center of Beryl with gusts to 90 mph over the coastal communities north of Port Aransas. Storm surge could reach 5 to 6 feet east of landfall.

SAN ANTONIO - Beryl is expected to be a hurricane by landfall on the mid Texas coast Monday. Across South-Central Texas, higher rainfall amounts will be along and east of the center of Beryl, with much lower amounts west. Heavy rainfall is expected to produce a risk for flooding with 3-7 inches of rain expected across the Flood Watch area. Generally 0.5-1.0 inch of rainfall is forecast along the I-35 Corridor. Additional fluctuations (lower or higher) to the rainfall forecast are possible.

RELATED | POLL: Has Beryl impacted your Fourth of July weekend plans?

Beryl continues to struggle to get more organized but is starting to find a more defined center of circulation. As Beryl approaches the Texas coast it is expected to strengthen into a category 1 hurricane. There is a chance that Beryl will strengthen into a category 2 before landfall Monday morning somewhere between Corpus Christi and Matagorda Bay. Currently, winds at landfall are forecast to be 85mph, which would classify the storm as a category 1.

RELATED | Refugio County orders mandatory evacuation as Tropical Storm Beryl approaches

Models since Friday have consistently shifted the center of Beryl further east, and this trend has only continued on Saturday. With this track, impacts to our local area will be very minimal west of the I-35 corridor with more significant impacts likely east of I-35. These impacts would occur Monday as the center of Beryl moves inland, likely tracking between San Antonio and Houston. Because of the track, rainfall totals courtesy of Beryl will decrease significantly further west.

Our eastern counties will see more impacts from Beryl, including possibly flooding rainfall (3-6”+) and wind gusts in excess of 60mph. In our local area, Goliad, DeWitt, and Lavaca Counties are included in a Tropical Storm Warning as tropical storm conditions are likely in these counties on Monday. Hurricane Warnings have been posted along the coast where more significant impacts are likely to occur.

For San Antonio, Beryl’s impacts look fairly low. A few outer bands may try to work into the San Antonio Metro Monday from Beryl, but the widespread tropical rain will likely stay just to the east. Areas west of San Antonio will see very little if any, rainfall from Beryl.

Beryl bears down on Texas, where it is expected to hit after regaining hurricane strength

By JUAN LOZANO and JIM VERTUNO Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Beryl was hurtling across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a collision course with Texas, forecast to pick up strength and regain hurricane status before nearing the coast Sunday and making landfall the following day with heavy rains, howling winds and dangerous storm surge.

A hurricane warning was declared for a large stretch of the coast from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston, and storm surge warnings were also in effect. Other parts were under tropical storm warnings.

"We're expecting the storm to make landfall somewhere on the Texas coast sometime Monday, if the current forecast is correct," said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Should that happen, it'll most likely be a Category 1 hurricane."

As of Saturday night, Beryl was about 330 miles (535 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi and had top sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).

The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean earlier in the week. It then battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a preemptive disaster declaration for 121 counties.

"Beryl is a determined storm, and incoming winds and potential flooding will pose a serious threat to Texans who are in Beryl's path at landfall and as it makes its way across the state for the following 24 hours," Patrick said Saturday in a statement.

Some coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks.

Mitch Thames, a spokesman for Matagorda County, said officials issued a voluntary evacuation request for the coastal areas of the county about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

"Our No. 1 goal is the health and safety of all our visitors and of course our residents. I'm not so much worried about our residents. Those folks that live down there, they're used to this, they get it," Thames said.

In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.

Traffic has been nonstop for the past three days at an Ace Hardware in the city as customers buy tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.

"They're just worried about the wind, the rain," she said. "They're wanting to prepare just in case."

Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Corpus Christi's Padre Island, said there has been "definitely a lot of buzz about the incoming storm," with customers stocking up on food and drinks, particularly meat and beer.

In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 6,700 residents.

Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.