Hurricane Beryl Sparks Huge Tornado Outbreak as 110 Warnings Issued

Hurricane Beryl has killed at least seven people after hitting the South on Monday, leaving millions without power and whipping up more than 100 tornado warnings in its wake.

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The National Hurricane Center is now referring to the downgraded weather system as Tropical Depression Beryl, though the agency has warned that many residents are still at risk from flooding and tornadoes across eastern Texas, western Louisiana and Arkansas. The National Weather Service has posted a string of tornado warnings overnight, with dozens of advisories issued.

Officials said the death toll is rising after the hurricane first slammed into Texas on Monday morning. Of the seven people killed, six were in Texas and another in neighboring Louisiana. Many of the victims were killed as trees fell on their homes or vehicles, but flooding is also a risk—with warnings that water could rise to 6 feet above ground level in some parts of Texas. The storm is now moving out of the Lone Star State and barreling through the Midwest.

The storm continues to wreak a destructive path, putting many people at risk of tornadoes. Eastern Texas and Louisiana have already experienced multiple tornadoes, Fox Weather reported.

More than 100 tornado warnings have been issued. A tornado warning refers to the potential for a twister to develop. The number does not refer to formed tornadoes. Still, weather watchers have been shocked by the scale of the alerts.

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On X, formerly Twitter, storm chaser Colin McCarthy posted details of the hurricane and subsequent warnings, showing a graphic mapping out the areas subject to a tornado warning.

"Hurricane #Beryl today produced one of the most prolific and significant tropical cyclone-induced tornado outbreaks in US history," he wrote. "An incredible 110 tornado warnings have been issued since midnight. This is also the most tornado warnings issued in the US in a single July day since records began in 1986, with 43 more tornado warnings issued than the previous record (67)."

Newsweek has contacted the National Weather Service for comment by email.

The latest warning issued by the NWS was for an area in Arkansas that included the communities in Riverside, McCrory and Grays. The warning is set to remain in place until 1:45 a.m. Central Daylight Time.

The NWS' Storm Prediction Center said other states besides Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas were likely to be affected.

A warning on its website said: "Tornadoes, in association with the remnants of Beryl, will be possible today from the mid Mississippi Valley northeastward through parts of the lower Ohio Valley. Marginally severe wind gusts and hail will also be possible in parts of New England."

The conditions are "favorable for tornadoes with rotating cells that form in the remnant rainband of Beryl." The warning added that there is "uncertainty concerning the magnitude of today's tornado potential."

Experts fear that climate change will make extreme weather patterns worse in the coming years. Their predictions include an increase in thunderstorms, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and droughts.