(Reuters) -Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeastern Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, canceling more than 1,300 flights and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses failed.
Beryl, the first-ever Category 5 hurricane of the season, weakened to a hurricane after hitting the Texas coastal town of Matagorda with dangerous storm surges and heavy rain before passing through Houston, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The agency said conditions could produce tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.
The storm, which was expected to weaken rapidly as it moved inland, cut a destructive path through Jamaica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week. At least 11 people were killed in Mexico and the Caribbean before reaching Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told reporters.
In Texas, a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in two incidents Monday when trees fell on their homes in the Houston area. A third person, a city of Houston employee going to work, drowned in an underpass, Patrick said.
Oil refining activity slowed and some production sites were evacuated in the state that is the largest producer of U.S. oil.
“For those of you in northeast Texas, take note. There will be tropical storm force winds, maybe not until midnight or 1 a.m. There will be flooding, there will be rain and you should stay off the roads,” Patrick said.
State officials had yet to assess the economic damage as officials remained on a rescue basis as strong winds continued to blow. Restoring power would take several days, said Thomas Gleeson, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission.
More than 2,500 first responders were deployed statewide, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
After warnings that the storm could be deadly for communities in its path, people rushed to board up windows and stock up on fuel and other essential supplies.
Before dawn, cities and towns including Galveston, Sargent, Lake Jackson and Freeport were battered by strong winds and torrential rain, a television video showed. By late morning, many fallen trees blocked roads in Houston as the worst of the storm passed, with persistent winds and some flooding making lanes on major highways impassable. The city barricaded flooded areas.
Crews using a life jacket and ladder fire truck rescued a man from a truck on a flooded stretch of highway, according to a video posted to social media by Houston’s local ABC station. Patrick said there were several other rescues.
Floodwaters exceeded 10 inches in most of Houston, Mayor John Whitmire said.
“We’re literally getting calls right now from all over Houston asking for first responders to come rescue people who are in desperate life safety conditions,” Whitmire said.
The storm had strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall. But the NHC said it was expected to weaken to a tropical depression overnight and to a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday.
That was still enough to bring more heavy rain as it moved northeast from eastern Texas on Monday afternoon, through Arkansas on Tuesday, and into the Lower Ohio Valley on Tuesday.
night, and eventually into the Lower Great Lakes on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Coast Guard had personnel positioned to assist with search and rescue efforts. According to the Biden administration, FEMA has also prepared water, meals and generators to boost local response efforts.
Schools said they would close as the storm approached. Airlines have canceled more than 1,300 flights and officials have ordered some evacuations in beach resorts. Small businesses in Houston, including package delivery services and chiropractors, delayed their openings or were closed Monday.
According to Patrick and PowerOutage.us, more than 2.7 million homes and businesses in Texas are out of service.
Several southeastern Texas counties, including Houston, where many U.S. energy companies are headquartered, are under flash flood warnings as thunderstorms unleashed up to a foot of rain in some areas.
Closing major oil ports around Corpus Christi, Galveston and Houston ahead of the storm could disrupt exports, along with shipments of crude oil to refineries and motor fuel from factories. The Corpus Christi Ship Channel has reopened, while the Port of Houston is expected to resume operations Tuesday afternoon.
Some oil producers, including Shell (LON:) and Chevron (NYSE:), evacuated personnel from their offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the storm.
Marathon Petroleum Corp’s (NYSE:) refinery in Texas City, Texas was hit by a power outage during the storm on Monday, the company said in a statement.
