Port Lavaca, other inland communities largely spared from Beryl's destruction

PORT LAVACA, Texas (KBTX) - As Hurricane Beryl made landfall along the Texas coast Monday, communities initially thought to take a direct hit were spared as the storm took a more eastward track.

Beryl moved onshore about 50 miles northeast of Port Lavaca, keeping the town on the clean side of the storm with heavy rain and wind in the early morning hours of Monday.

However, by the afternoon, you could hardly tell a storm had moved through.

Michael Rorke lives in Victoria and made the 30-minute drive to the Bayfront Peninsula Park to get some fishing in. He says he was preparing for the worst, but Beryl moved away from him.

“My wife and I, our kids, we got extra water, food, of course. I got the generator out, I got it all prepped up, got all the lanterns out and just kind of waited, hunkered down, and waited for it,” Rorke said. “I went to bed expecting to wake up and hear wind and rain, power out and nothing. We had a little bit of wind, a little rain.”

It’s the same story for much of Port Lavaca Monday, aside from some small tree limbs down on the roads, and a power outage affecting most of the area for about 5 hours, Beryl left this area relatively unscathed.

It’s not the same for everyone. A couple who lives about 45 minutes northeast of Port Lavaca in El Campo said their property was hit hard with downed trees and prolonged power outages, but they were grateful nobody they knew was hurt.

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