The storm is expected to reach hurricane strength again in the Gulf of Mexico after killing at least 11 people in the Caribbean.
Tropical Storm Beryl is expected to strengthen as it heads towards the US state of Texas after leaving a deadly trail across the Caribbean.
The storm is expected to hit the Texas coast on Sunday evening, two days after touched land in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Beryl has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but is expected to strengthen again to a hurricane as it moves over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Although no deaths were reported in Mexico, Beryl killed at least 11 people in the Caribbean after its strong winds and heavy rains battered Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and northern Venezuela.
As it swept through the region, the storm quickly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane before briefly reaching Category 5 intensity, according to the U.S.-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).
This made it the the most violent storm of all time Scientists found that the hurricanes occurred at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, a reality they say was fueled by human-caused climate change.
Beryl is expected to make landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane somewhere between the city of Brownsville and north of Corpus Christi, NHC senior hurricane specialist Jack Beven told The Associated Press.
However, he warned that the storm could strengthen further “if Beryl stays on the water longer” than expected.
He said the storm could see winds increase to 27 to 37 kilometers per hour (17 to 23 mph) over the next 24 hours.
The agency warned of storm surges in northeastern Mexico and along the Texas coast, as well as potentially deadly flash flooding and rip currents.
Beryl caused property damage and power outages in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the country’s top tourist destination.
Key Messages for Tropical Storm July 6 at 4 a.m. #Beryl:
Forecasts call for strengthening later this weekend in the Gulf of Mexico and a #hurricane again before impacting parts of northeastern Mexico and the Texas coast overnight Sunday into Monday.
Last: https://t.co/RX183IoxPZ pic.twitter.com/Q9lBmHgbd2
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 6, 2024
Hundreds of tourists were evacuated from hotels along the coast as the storm approached, and the military deployed about 8,000 troops to Tulum with food supplies and 34,000 liters (9,000 gallons) of purified water.
At Cancun airport, about 100 domestic and international flights scheduled between Thursday and Friday were canceled.
The storm had journey along the northern coast of Venezuela, where three people were killed.
Three other people were killed in Grenada, where two islands – Carriacou and neighbouring Petite Martinique – were hardest hit.
Tevin Andrews, the islands’ minister, appealed to the United Nations and aid agencies on Friday for “anything that would allow a human being to survive”.
The neighboring island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has also been hit hard, Simon Springett, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official for the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, told the AP. At least three other people have been killed in the country.
Two people were also killed in Jamaica, where thousands remained without power.
Abnormally warm waters – which fuel major storms – were largely responsible for Beryl’s intensity.
North Atlantic waters remain between 1 and 3 degrees Celsius (1.8 and 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
