What is now Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall again as a Category 2 hurricane hitting Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula Friday morning. The system, though, is forecast to reform as a hurricane in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and target the Texas coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The NHC said the center of Beryl made landfall just northeast of Tulum, Mexico at 6:05 a.m. with 110 mph sustained winds.
As of 8 p.m. it was located at Progreso, Mexico and 580 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas with sustained winds down to 65 mph dropping below hurricane status moving west-northwest at 15 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds extend out 105 miles.
A hurricane watch and storm surge watch has been issued for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande River north to Sargent, Texas, and the northeastern coast of Mainland Mexico from Barr el Mezquital to the Rio Grande. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico west of Cabo Catoche to Campeche.
Hurricane Beryl charges across the Caribbean sea, hitting the Cayman Islands before making landfall on the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. pic.twitter.com/Nd4Jwo6UcH
— CIRA (@CIRA_CSU) July 5, 2024
“Continued weakening is expected during the next few hours as Beryl crosses the Yucatan Peninsula,” forecasters said. “Re-intensification is expected once the center moves back over the Gulf of Mexico, and Beryl is forecast to regain hurricane status on Sunday.”
Its five-day path has its center targeting north of Brownsville and South Padre Island by early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph sustained winds and 105 mph gusts.
“(It could be) potentially be an intensifying hurricane as it moves closer to the coast of Texas,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan noting it’s expected to make a northward turn before landfall. “Just a small change in the track of the storm can mean a big difference in where the center of Beryl makes landfall.”
He said there’s a broad risk all the way up to the central Texas coast with “multiple life-threatening hazards, the hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge, heavy rainfall and flooding.”
Tropical-storm-force winds will begin Sunday evening.
The Gulf Coast of Texas already suffered storm surge damage from the season’s first named storm, Tropical Storm Alberto, in June while mainland Mexico this week also saw rain from Tropical Storm Chris.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, where officials are bracing for the chance Beryl could turn northward and bring with it possible coastal flooding, strong winds and dangerous rip currents, the city announced it had distributed 10,000 sand bags in less than two hours on Friday, exhausting its supply. The city had already distributed 14,000 sand bags Wednesday.
Storm surge from Beryl is forecast to be from 3-5 feet from Baffin Bay to Sargent, Texas as well as Corpus Christi Bay and Matagorda Bay, and 2-4 feet from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Baffin Bay.
Beryl is forecast to drop 4 to 6 inches with some areas of the Yucatan getting up to 10 inches Friday, and from 5 to 10 inches with some areas getting as much as 15 inches of rain across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast and eastern Texas beginning late Sunday through the middle of next week. The could produce flash and urban flooding.by Sunday.
#Beryl made landfall this morning and will reach the Gulf of Mexico tonight. As it moves over water, the risk for rip currents along Gulf Coast beaches will increase, even far away from the forecast track. Go to https://t.co/JttG4XipJ4 for more information in your area. pic.twitter.com/0U7vO2sX93
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 5, 2024
Swells from the storm are forecast to spread to the U.S. Gulf Coast by late Friday that could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. There’s already a moderate risk of rip currents along Florida’s Panhandle, where three people died in June in the wake of Tropical Storm Alberto’s kicked-up coastal dangers.
Beryl died down from its record-setting intensity this week when it grew to Category 5 hurricane with 165 mph sustained winds, the earliest on record to form, after it tore through the Windward Islands leaving behind a trail of destruction and at least 11 deaths.
Three people have been reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadine, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, officials said.
Mexican authorities had moved some tourists and residents out of low-lying areas around the Yucatan peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands remained to tough out the strong winds and expected storm surge. Much of the area around Tulum is just a few yards above sea level.
The city was plunged into darkness when the storm knocked out power as it came ashore. Screeching winds set off car alarms across the town. Wind and rain continued to whip the seaside city and surrounding areas Friday morning.
No deaths or wounded had been reported, but 40% of Tulum continued to be without electricity, said Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexican Civil Protection.
“Don’t go out yet. Wait until the hurricane completely passes,” said Velázquez, speaking on a video in a morning press briefing.
Once a sleepy, laid-back village, in recent years Tulum has boomed with unrestrained development and now has about 50,000 permanent inhabitants and at least as many tourists on an average day. The resort now has its own international airport.
Damage tolls from Beryl’s earlier Caribbean victims continue to climb.
Michelle Forbes, the St. Vincent and Grenadines director of the National Emergency Management Organization, said that about 95% of homes in Mayreau and Union Island have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.
The hurricane jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and ripped off roofs and knocked out electricity in Jamaica.
On Union Island, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a man who identified himself as Captain Baga described the storm’s impact, including how he had filled two 2,000-gallon rubber water tanks in preparation.
“I strapped them down securely on six sides; and I watched the wind lift those tanks and take them away — filled with water,” he said Thursday. “I’m a sailor and I never believed wind could do what I saw it do. If anyone (had) ever told me wind could do that, I would have told them they lie!”
The island was littered with debris from homes that looked like they had exploded.
Tropical Storm Alberto did not form until June 19 after a slow start to the season. The height of hurricane season, though, runs from mid-August into October.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an above average year in the Atlantic with 17 to 25 named storms, of which eight to 13 are expected to become hurricanes, and four to seven of those be major hurricanes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
