Early Monday, Hurricane Beryl struck Texas, causing power outages for nearly 3 million homes and businesses, drenching the region with heavy rain, and resulting in at least three fatalities. By Monday evening, the National Hurricane Center reported that the storm had moved east and weakened to a tropical depression. Despite this downgrade, Beryl was expected to continue its destructive path across several states in the coming days.

Texas officials cautioned that restoring power could take several days after Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane, damaged 10 transmission lines and uprooted trees, which subsequently brought down power lines. Although the storm had less intensity than the Category 5 hurricane that ravaged parts of Mexico and the Caribbean the previous weekend, it still managed to knock down hundreds of trees and flood numerous roads, leaving many vehicles stranded.

As Beryl progressed inland, the risk of tornadoes increased.

The National Weather Service confirmed sightings of tornadoes in northeastern Louisiana. In Benton, a woman lost her life when a tree fell on her home, according to a Facebook post by Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington.

“We’re not past any difficult conditions,” stated Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was acting as governor in Gov. Greg Abbott’s absence. He warned that power restoration would be a “multiple day process.”

Houston experienced severe impacts, with CenterPoint Energy reporting over 2 million outages in and around the city. Patrick mentioned that thousands of additional workers were being brought in to restore power, prioritizing critical facilities like nursing homes and assisted living centers.

Two individuals died from trees falling on their homes, and the National Hurricane Center indicated that damaging winds and flash floods would persist as Beryl moved inland. A third fatality occurred when a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department became trapped in floodwaters beneath a highway overpass, as reported by Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Despite the destruction, there were no immediate reports of widespread structural damage.