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After unleashing chaos and devastation in the Caribbean Islands and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, Hurricane Beryl made its fierce landfall in Texas on Monday, July 8.
Knewz.com has learned that Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has already confirmed three deaths in the state due to the hurricane.
Current reports mention that the storm has knocked out power for nearly 3 million Texas residents, as trucks were found flipped on the streets on Monday morning.
The Freeport region witnessed wind gusts of 94 mph, the highest recorded in Texas this hurricane, and hotels, residences, and other buildings within 20 minutes of the beach had their roofs blown off.
The city of Galveston saw continuous 70 mph wind gusts for three hours on Monday.
Police in the city of Rosenberg, which is an hour from the Matargoda region where Hurricane Beryl made landfall, reported rising floodwaters and said that several streets had already been flooded and strewn with debris.
According to a Fox Weather report, the Surfside Beach area saw storm surges ranging between 3 to 7 feet, as reporters and crew members from the outlet noted seeing several 18-wheeler tractor-trailers flipped over on a bridge.
Harris County was one of the areas worst affected by Hurricane Beryl, as 900,000 of the 2.7 million power outages were reported from this region alone. The County also saw the death of one of its residents in the hurricane.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez reported on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a 53-year-old man got trapped under the debris as a knocked-over tree fell on his house.
"Preliminary info indicates one person has been confirmed deceased. Fire department is on-scene," the Sheriff reported.
The man was reportedly sitting at home with his family riding out the storm. "An oak tree fell on roof and hit rafters, structure fell on the male. Wife and children unharmed," Gonzalez wrote in an update.
Within two hours of the first death, Gonzalez reported a second one—a 74-year-old woman who suffered the same fate in Spring, Texas, outside of Houston.
"Pct 4 deputies are reporting another fatality. A tree fell on a residence at the 17400 block of Rustic Canyon Trl, striking a woman (74). The woman was pronounced deceased at the scene," he wrote on X.
A third death was reported in Houston, where officials confirmed that 54-year-old Houston Police Department Information Security Officer Russell Richardson was caught in the rising floodwaters on his way to work and drowned to death.
A separate Fox Weather news report mentioned that Houston saw wind gusts over 70 to 80 mph and over 10 inches of rainfall during the hurricane, which led to flash floods in the region.
Lieutenant Governor Patrick issued a statement about the devastation on Monday, primarily addressing the fatalities and the massive power outages across the state.
"There are nearly 3 million ratepayers without power and at least 10 transmission lines down. CenterPoint Energy, Entergy, and smaller electric co-ops will work around the clock to assess damages and restore power," the Lieutenant Governor said, adding that this will be a "multi-day restoration event."
"Sadly, we have been informed of 3 storm-related fatalities, 2 by fallen trees and 1 by drowning. Please join Jan [Janetlea Patricia Rankin, his wife] and me in prayer for the victims and their families," he added.
"Texas has assets deployed throughout the Coastal Bend, the Houston area, and Deep East Texas, and they will work diligently to assist their fellow Texans... Those in northeast Texas need to be careful if they are on the roads. There will be heavy rains, potential flooding, and tornados possible in that area."
The Lieutenant Governor also advised residents of northeast Texas to "stay off the roads" on Monday night.
In addition, CNN reported that Montgomery County officials have confirmed three deaths as well, further raising the death toll in Texas.
These include a 40-year-old man who was struck by a knocked-over tree while he was sitting in his tractor, and a man and a woman who were found dead in a tent in a "wooded area in Magnolia."
