ST. LOUIS — Fresh off flash flood warnings sparked by Monday downpours, the St. Louis region faces more risks of heavy rain Tuesday — with potentially four inches or more, in places — after the landfall of the historically early and strong Hurricane Beryl, approaching from the south.
Prolonged rain from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl engulfed the St. Louis region Tuesday, expected to bring one to three inches, or more in some places.
The inland path for the remnants of Beryl — now classified a tropical cyclone — is not perfectly clear, but local forecasters for the National Weather Service warned that the area should brace for flash flooding.
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Depending on the path of the remnants of Hurricane Beryl, parts of the St. Louis region could see up to four inches of rain or more, according to the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center.
“While the exact track of Beryl is still uncertain as it approaches the region, we are confident that heavy rain will result in flash flooding,” the agency said in a social media post. “Particular concern exists where heavy rain has fallen over the last week.”
Recent bouts of rain included a Monday deluge that brought flash flood warnings to different pockets of the region. Next up comes Beryl, making two to four inches of rain possible across a wide swath of the region through Tuesday night, though higher amounts could fall locally.
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The St. Louis metro area is blanketed under a flood watch from the NWS, with flood warnings lining major rivers, like the Mississippi and Missouri — where water levels are already elevated and have created recent complications, thanks largely to severe floods in states far upstream.
The path of Beryl’s center is expected to traverse southeast Missouri and southern Illinois, throughout Tuesday afternoon and evening, although the size of the storm can transcend that “cone” designated by forecasters.
Beryl has already been an eye-popping and historic storm, smashing a variety of records as an “exceptionally early” major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Its abnormality has underscored concerns about what exceptionally warm ocean temperatures could bring in the remainder of hurricane season, and in the future, as the warming climate helps intensify the storms, according to the National Climate Assessment.
For instance, Beryl is the first recorded hurricane to form in June that achieved Category 4 strength — more than a week ahead of the previous record set by Hurricane Dennis in 2005. Within days, Beryl also became the earliest recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 strength, and only the second to occur in July, following Hurricane Emily in 2005, according to the National Hurricane Center — and beating Emily’s record by more than two weeks. It also was the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record, with winds that reached 165 mph.
The storm comes months ahead of what is typical, since on average, the first hurricane to reach Category 3 strength or greater doesn’t form until Sept. 1, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The Atlantic is normally not warm enough to form such significant hurricanes so early, but temperatures in its “main development region” for the storms have been at record-high levels this year, helping provide ample energy for Beryl, said NOAA.
Beryl came ashore in the U.S. on Monday, slamming into Texas’ Gulf Coast after inflicting earlier rounds of damage across the Caribbean, in nations such as Grenada and Jamaica. By Monday afternoon, more than two million people and businesses in the Houston area were without power, according to The Associated Press.
View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.